Excuse me, I need to wipe the sweat off my forehead because I’ve been slam dancing in my living room and stage diving onto my couch all day listening to this self-released four-song demo from one of Winnipeg’s newest hardcore bands, Higher Love. Don’t let the name fool you – this isn’t a flower-power peace & love style band, though they clearly have a loving relationship with classic era NYHC and late 90s Winnipeg hardcore! You can imagine the dance floor at the Royal Albert Arms exploding at one of the Sunday matinee shows from back in the day to the opening track “Lost,” with it’s quick transition from a circle pit worthy intro into a great breakdown reminiscent of some of the earlier Breakdown stuff, or the more moshable moments of the classic Leeway album Born To Expire. The vocals sound pissed off, snotty, and angry. For a band like this, this is definitely a good thing since the lyrics tend to deal with subject matter such as feeling alienated from the world and not fitting in. If I could sum it up in one word, it’d be sincere. Would fit in next to Power Trip or Turnstile in your record collection quite nicely. (Self-released, higherlove204.bandcamp.com)
By Ryan Nash
Recommended if you like “Blast or Bust” on CKUW 95.9