Snapcase

End Transmission (Victory)
by Tim Den

Even as Snapcase has carried on Refused’s flag of progressive hardcore, they’ve been swept aside in the last few years by the rise of nü metal and “poppy” hardcore. An unfair turn of events, to say the least, for these Buffalo veterans of stop-and-go. Through numerous albums and EPs, Snapcase has continuously pushed the boundaries of the “new school hardcore” formula by incorporating strange-sounding harmonics and the hammer-like pounding of groove riffs. Perhaps it’s exactly this need to keep progressing that’s kept the band just out of fame-and-fortune’s reach. But luckily for us, that means yet another fantastic album from this groundbreaking unit.

End Transmission sees Snapcase wandering even further away from the post-hardcore/post-Fugazi shores of Designs for Automotion. The band is now swimming in murky electronic backgrounds, coming up for air only to blast forth train wrecks of riffs. The layering of sound effects does not hinder the momentum of the record in any way; instead it accentuates the bursts of machine-precise grooves like the calm before a storm.
(346 N. Justine St., Ste. 504 Chicago, IL 60607)