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    The Phantom Tollbooth 1999/Society's Finest
    Society's Finest — Private Conflicts and Suicides cover

    Society's Finest

    Private Conflicts and Suicides

    (1999)

    Reviewed by Joe Rockstroh

    DiscogsYouTube
    Label Fury 161 RecordsThe Phantom Tollbooth1999
    black metalhardcoremetalcorepost-hardcore

    If you are looking for some new metalcore, then this is your band. Everything about this band screams Professional: the blue lighted liner notes, the tight musicianship, and the excellent production by Barry Poynter. Oh, and the songs are good too. With a sound similar to Zao's Where Blood... album, Society's Finest's hybrid of metal/hardcore brings in the screamed, shouted vocals, the hardcore crunch and thick metal riffs, with the occasional spoken word piece and off-kilter guitar riff. Songs like "Eggshell" showcase the band's lyrical proficiency with lines like:

    I can see the white ash falling from your tongue as you curse me and the deception of your child like behavior burns words into my fragile mind pull me down into your own private hell so I can understand.

    If this album has one flaw, it's that it sounds a little bit too much like Zao's new musical direction. But that's not entirely a bad thing, for the band really hits the mark with this EP. Intense, explosive, loud, and well produced, this is everything a metalcore album is supposed to be. Here's hoping the band keeps at it and continues to release solid material.

    4 tocks

    Other coverage for this album

    HM Magazine #78Reviewed by Doug Van PeltOh yeah! These guys lay down an intense, brutal hardcore sound that'll rip yer ears off! And, in case anyone was wondering, the five guys here all proclaim Jesus loudly as Lord. There's only five songs here, but they totally rip! The vocals are almost unblack metal, which seems to toughen the riffs here.

    Similar sounding releases

    2002Evergreen TerraceBurned Alive By Time2002AftertasteTwo Minutes to A Heartbeat1999Luti-Kriss / TravailSplit1998ZaoWhere Blood and Fire Bring Rest2001Dreaming of the Fifth / EvelynnDreaming of the Fifth / Evelynn2000Earth CrisisSlither

    More from Society's Finest

    2000The Journey...So Far2004Love, Murder, and a Three-Letter Word

    Also in The Phantom Tollbooth 1999

    1999Spoken...What Remains1999Various ArtistsRe:Source 20001999The Artist OneA Generation of Time VII1999The InsyderzSkalleluia Too!1999Fleming & JohnThe Way We Are1999PriesthoodSprinkle Me Luv