Harkonen
Shake Harder Boy
Hydrahead
As part of the new generation of metallic hardcore, Harkonen offer up a more soaring, elusive sound than the direct thump-n-grind to which we are just growing accustomed. Harkonen share as much common ground with the Dismemberment Plan as they do with Minor Threat, playing music more explicitly fueled by social confusion and distortion rather than sheer anger or political rebellion. And from the gliding “Baristas Get Stalked,” via the jagged edges of “The Burly Spur” and further on to the soar-and-destroy sounds of “Your Name Is Shit,” Harkonen offer purposeful layers of tense, well-directed noise. Harkonen may not have rediscovered hardcore (there are enough bands operating in a similar vein already), but Shake Harder Boy proves they can do this with an ambitious elusiveness and consistent elegance that few of their competitors come close to achieving.
Hydrahead Records: http://www.hydrahead.com/
