Primal Rite – Sensory Link to Pain (Review)

This is the latest release from US hardcore bruisers Primal Rite.

This is a twisted crossover mix of hardcore and metal, weaving punk and death/thrash influences together into three furiously ugly tracks.

There’s a rough, underground edge to this music, and Primal Rite sound quite…er…primal in their rage. The songs are written with one eye on aggression and the other on memorability. Okay, so there’s probably a third, mutant eye too, blearily focusing on sinister metal atmosphere.

This is very enjoyable stuff. It’s harsher and more evil than a lot of this kind of thing, and the mix of different styles not only works really well, but seems to be done intuitively.

One moment you could be listening to something that screams 90s hardcore with a Madball/Pro-Pain flavour, while the next moment things could be all Slayer-esque, but then some Morbid Angel could rear its warped head. A lot of the time, these influences are all mixed together at the same time, of course.

The singer’s harsh bark recalls old-school death metal, and the music mixes this with 90s hardcore and thrash influences with ease.

A long lost gem from the 90s? You could almost believe it.

Pick this up.