7-10 Split

Item: Trial by Stone
Author: Kindred Winecoff

Trial by Stone

(1999)

Reviewed by Kindred Winecoff

Discogs Bandcamp

Label Screaming Giant RecordsBandoppler1999

hardcore pop punk

Step aside Officer Negative, 7-10 Split is easily my favorite Screaming Giant Band. They've been combining, meat, death, destruction, death metal, punk rock, He-Man, and Bruce Springsteen for several years now, but Trial by Stone is their first full-length release. My time of waiting is over, and my patience has been rewarded by one of the best punk rock albums of the year.

The record starts out with "Instruction Manual," a fairly poppy song based on Proverbs 3:5-6, and moves into "Grind-core Kid," a song evenly divided between pop punk and hardcore. I know, I know. But it's true, and it works. If 7-10 Split had only written "Vicious Onslaught" and nothing else, they'd still be head and shoulders over most punk bands. It is a nearly perfect song, featuring frenetic and meaningful fretwork by Dancore and lyrics centering on death and destruction, from a Biblical perspective of course.

Towards the middle of the album, some of the heavier songs come in such as "Damien" and "Remi," an anti-Nazi, anti-fascism anthem, as well as the poppiest will-you-go-out-with-me-Saturday-night song on the album, "Missing Piece."

The combination of the harder-edged punk rock with more melodic songs makes this album deeper and more valuable than most punk bands and albums. Think Slick Shoes meets Cannibal Corpse. Well, not really, but sort of. And the lyrics are tough, gritty, and real. No wimpy words or music for 7-10 Split, these guys are 100% testosterone…and isn't that what punk rock is meant to be?