{"id":12519,"date":"2023-07-11T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-11T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/?p=12519"},"modified":"2026-05-22T13:00:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T18:00:34","slug":"album-review-hopscotchbattlescars-sick-of-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2023\/07\/11\/album-review-hopscotchbattlescars-sick-of-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Album Review :: Hopscotchbattlescars :: sick of you"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/f4.bcbits.com\/img\/a0836717090_16.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>by James Baines<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since 2021 when hopscotchbattlescars released their first widely available single, \u201cgod hates straight pride flags,\u201d fans have been waiting and begging for a full-length album from the band.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>Hopscotchbattlescars, a metalcore collective consisting of members Simone, Wyatt, Jude, and Erik, have been a big name in the local hardcore\/metalcore scene for a number of years now and have been pushing the limits of extreme music since day one. After many basement shows and sold-out gigs, singles, EPs, and even a Canadian tour, the band has finally released their first full-length effort titled <em>sick of you.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The album is heavy from start to finish, with a great lineup of new tunes and crowd favourites such as \u201cwacky intro song\u201d and \u201cnothing to do, no one to love.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every song has a hard and cutting sound with the highest recording quality the band has seen yet. Each song hits you with a wall of distortion and heavy tones. Hopscotchbattlescars<em> <\/em>has always been known for their clear values against many issues such as capitalism, homophobia, transphobia, and more, and this album is no exception, with many of the songs pushing these values. These issues are best felt in tunes like \u201ccapitalism: the world\u2019s largest non-consensual fin-dom\u201d or \u201cdropping dead to own the libs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If that isn\u2019t enough, every song has killer riffs, and songs like \u201cbegin anew\u201d bring back many of the mathcore writings that older fans have been missing recently. The album does fall short in some areas as the re-recordings of \u201call the things you wish you had\u201d and \u201cnothing to do, no one to love\u201d are missing some of the original feel and grit, worrying some fans of an even further stray away from the refreshing mathcore that the group was known for on older releases. This album is in no way bad. It is a great listen and a great first full-length album any band could dream of, but nothing can be perfect. Luckily the album doesn\u2019t fall short on many things, but for long-time fans, it can seem underwhelming. This is an album that takes multiple listens as every layer uncovers more of the technical writing the band is known for.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Long-time fans or newcomers to the scene: I do urge you to listen to this release; it is hard, wild, and wacky and encapsulates an amazing renaissance in Winnipeg\u2019s extreme music scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"wacky intro song\" width=\"1140\" height=\"855\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iSPbkmN_qQc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by James Baines Since 2021 when hopscotchbattlescars released their first widely available single, \u201cgod hates straight pride flags,\u201d fans have been waiting and begging for a full-length album from the band.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1420,1559,1560],"class_list":["post-12519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-album-review","tag-hopscotchbattlescars","tag-sick-of-you"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12519"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12521,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12519\/revisions\/12521"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}