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After a ton of success in Australia, their home country, No Apologies got the attention of Southern California label 6131 records who decided to put out "Survival" as one of their first releases. No Apologies play New York type hardcore influenced by Cro-Mags and Madball.  They remind me a little of No Warning and Bitter End too as far as newer bands are concerned. They play straight forward hardcore with some solos mixed in and some instrumental  parts. If you like "hard" hardcore, then this is for you, you know what I'm talking about.

 

The album starts off with "Crushed" and "Alone" which both start off with fast parts and end with some hard sounding breaks. "Survival" has a cool riff based intro and a more mid-tempo pace and ends with some good guitar work.  The album changes the tempo up enough to keep it interesting because the album is fairly lengthy. The album ends with a mainly instrumental song called "Succumb" that even uses an Australian instrument called a didgeridoo, which adds a really cool sound to the song. How many bands use a didgeridoo these days?

 

My favorite track on the album is probably "Survival" because it is really riff based and just simply hard sounding.  I like good mid-tempo songs with interesting riffs and this song delivers this. The track "Dying to Live" is also another favorite.  This song has some cool guitar riffs once again mixes fast and heavy parts very well.  

The bottom line is that No Apologies play the style of hardcore they're doing well and fans of NYHC will probably dig it. If this isn't your style then you might not be converted into an aficionado. They add some different elements to the mix and have cool guitar riffs. The album is a bit lengthy in my opinion but still good.  I have been listening to this album in pieces because the full piece of work starts to sound repetitive aside from a few parts where they try something different. It's not reinventing the wheel but it's a solid record that people who like NYHC should give a shot. Hopefully they'll make it to the States someday because I'm sure these songs would translate well into a live show.

 

7.5/10

 

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