Calling all beatdown junkies your next fix has arrived! Austrian quartet Crowdown are here with their first release Horizon, an EP of brutish chugging hardcore mixing the old and new alike with infectious grooves and pounding beats, to create a sound that which hits the right spots for those looking for a simple, rocking good time. As a piece of work this is perfectly serviceable, something I would describe as "chewing gum for the ears" not a criticism at all, just something which you can listen to with ease and enjoyment but which demands nothing of you the listener, other than to just go along with the ride.

Lead single "America The Hateful" is presented well in this release, a grooving, hulking lead riff maintaining your desire to bob your head throughout, is reminiscent of the NYHC mid paced sound. Gang vocals on the prominent lines really punctuating through the thick guitar tones showing you exactly where this bands influences lay, imagine something between Cro-Mags mixed with "Lights, Camera, Revolution" era Sucidal Tendencies all finished of with a big helping of Hatebreed. Lyrically juvenile perhaps, but delivered with conviction where you can't help but finding yourself agreeing.

Whilst tracks like "Cold" and "Scars" do what they do very well they offer little in ways to distinguish them from other hardcore bands of this style. Building their sonic attack on repetition of bruising beatdown riffage and groovy beats, this can make everything all blur into one at times. The biggest thing this record suffers from is a lack of variation on  a theme, even the simple old "bring the riff back but slower" trick would serve as something more diverse in the listening experience, adding to the intrigue and increasing the likelihood for repeat listening.

That is however until we pick up the pace with record closer "Worship The Sick" This standouts out as the most interesting track by some distance, opening up the bands arsenal of tricks to hit into some thrashier crossover territory creating a thicker and more powerful sound overall which counteracts nicely with the quite stark and staccato nature of the earlier songs. "Worship The Sick"s ability to meld hardcore aggression with mechanical metallic precision, the snappy drumming, mixing well with the right, controlled riffing.

This is a record which is readily enjoyable for anybody sold on modern hardcore already, and it is an accomplishment to be commended for the band to make a work so cohesive on their debut release. It's run time of just over 22 minutes is a big bonus for it as none of the ideas presented have time to overstay their welcome. Finally the production on this is of a higher quality than might be expected of a band this early in their career playing this type of music, but every note beat and scream is loud and clear in your ears. This may even be to it's detriment, sounding as polished as it does takes some of the heart out of it, but what can be said is that this is a good example of modern hardcore doing what it should do to a good standard.