Maybe we’ve come too expectant of every new hardcore band right now to peer beyond the pit and write music that gives listeners and the critical commentariat alike reason to believe the scene is forever changed all because one band happened to get really big in breaking down sonic barriers on their own terms. Fair, but GEL dare not follow the leader on their debut full-length, Only Constant, a reminder that hardcore is and will always be through and through a community-building effort centered around working through the heavy shit together in unapologetically feral fashion. The New Jersey five-piece of vocalist Kaiser, guitarists Anthony Webster and Maddi Nave, bassist Bobko, and drummer Zach Miller leave it all in the pit nonetheless with an album made for listeners who need a pure outlet of aggression to tackle whatever negative energy life attempts to fuck them up with. The listen – 10 tracks in 17 minutes – is confrontational with the self and the burning world around them, as Kaiser shoves intrusive thoughts away from the conscious and warns any outside forces not to step to them just as well. Whether you seek this one out to rage through a workout after a rough day or exercise your right to thrash it out live in the flesh, Only Constant gives back to the scene honest, hyper self-aware hardcore where burning every shred of emotion into the floor until the boards disintegrate never goes out of vogue.

Highlights:“Honed Blade”, “Snake Skin”, “Composure”

GEL’s Only Constant is available now on Convulse Records.

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