With Sundowning, in 2006, This Is Hell makes a thunderous entrance into North American metallic hardcore. Coming from New York State, the band imposes from the off a formula as simple as it is relentless: a fast, dense, furious hardcore, fueled by a straight edge energy and a fury that grants no respite. This debut bothers with no frills, it charges head down, stacking cutting riffs and devastating breaks with an assurance rare for a first record. From the opening seconds, you understand you are dealing with a band that has things to say and the intention of screaming them as loud as possible.
A charging entrance
Everything on Sundowning breathes urgency. The songs are short, compact, built for immediate impact, and Travis Reilly’s snarling vocals give them a constant intensity. The band draws as much on conviction hardcore as on a more metallic aggression, creating a balance that would become its trademark. There is no dead time, no filler: every track gets straight to the point, with the conviction of a youth refusing half measures. That economy of means, far from limiting the record, makes all its force and coherence.
Straight edge rage
Beyond the music, Sundowning carries an attitude. Straight edge ethics, revolt against apathy, the will to live fully and without compromise run through direct, sincere lyrics. This Is Hell does not seek to philosophize, it lands its convictions like punches, with an honesty that commands respect. That rage, channeled into perfectly controlled music, gives the record a visceral power. You sense a band that believes hard in what it defends, and turns that faith into sonic fuel.
The bedrock of a style
In hindsight, Sundowning appears as the foundation stone of an ambitious trajectory. The band lays the bases of what it would develop later: the speed, the density, the appetite for an ever more metallic aggression. Still a little raw, the record already holds all the band’s DNA, with the freshness and urgency of beginnings. It is a debut that does not cheat, that does not try to look bigger than it is, and that earns its credibility precisely through that flawless sincerity.
Sundowning is a striking, sincere debut that installs This Is Hell among the names that count in mid-2000s metallic hardcore. Raw but already perfectly identifiable, it combines the energy of the scene with a fury all its own. For anyone who loves fast, honest, uncompromising hardcore, it is an ideal entry point, the demonstration that a band can hit hard on its first attempt without sacrificing any of its conviction or identity.
