No Treaty bring back the spirit and intensity of early 2000s spirit-filled hardcore.
North Carolina band No Treaty began releasing singles in the summer of 2024 and then in November released an ep with the three singles “Deep”, “Forget”, and “Monolith” along with the songs “Pages” and what is sure to be a favorite “Trumpet”. For the earliest single on Spotify, “Monolith”, the band brought in Michael Felker of Convictions for some guest vocals. In the words of the band, “We’re God-fearing, broken-yet-saved guys from across the East Coast (US) who simply want to use our gifts to glorify God and share our hearts for Christ with anyone willing to listen.” The ep was written and produced by the band and mixed and mastered by Ryan Leitru.
No Treaty have really brought me back in time to the neverending dust and heat and generator stages of Cornerstone Festival where you often couldn’t throw a rock without hitting a spirit-filled metalcore band trying to be heard. The opening track “Trumpet” is a masterpiece for the genre, plain and simple. The black and white video is perfect as well as it looks like it could be a performance on a small generator stage. The brief into has the band pacing around and getting hyped as tension builds and then the song explodes with the line “Sound the Trumpet!” Growled vocals carry the verses with gang vocals, spoken sections, and the inevitable clean chorus filling in. I do appreciate the three guitars for sure as that provides more flexibility in layering the overall sound from guitar parts and they work well. Given the genre, breakdowns will happen and again the video works well as it looks like a stage invasion with a bunch of guys hardcore dancing and shouting along. Predictable, sure, but it transports me back in time and the passionate delivery makes the song work even for those of us who normally sneer at metalcore…
For “Monolith” which was one of the earlier songs released by the band as a single, they brought in Michael Felker of Convictions for some additional vocals. THe band make good use of multiple guitar parts and in interesting drum line in the opening of the song before it settles into a pounding slower riff in the track that lyrically is focused on being a “watchman” standing for the truth in Jesus Christ as the risen savior. As a spirit-filled band, the band’s convictions come through clearly with no chance of doubt and are delivered with passion and sincerity. In a live setting again, there would be several obvious sections where hardcore dancing and crowd singalongs would dominate.
“Pages” looks to be one of the other tracks with “Trumpet” that were not released as singles. The song opens up with one of the more complicated riffs on the ep and shouted vocals dominate the track, and the more complicated drum parts in track as the pacing shifts keeps the listener involved. Some well-placed starts/stops provide a unique element in the song.
“Forget” is more of a straightforward metalcore track from the opening drums that open the song to the more rhythmic sections in the chorus. Again here the band made some good choices in song construction having parts with just vocals and drums although the first breakdown part is a bit over the top but thankfully short enough to not take away from the strength of the song. The message in the song is a strong one and the focus on “the God who always forgives…always forgets” is a strong one of hope.
“Deep” closes out the ep and in general the opening guitar parts will sound very familiar to metalcore listeners, while the faster, near groove guitar in the early verse sections really carries the song. This song has another chorus sure to inspire crowd singing with a plea for the “Holy Spirit fill me with peace”. The growled, shouted, and overall ragged vocals almost sound as if this track was recorded directly after the previous ones with no break and the added emotion conveyed make the track more powerful as it builds to a quiet interlude following a plea to be set free and ends with an earnest prayer…
There is nothing on Sound the Trumpet that you haven’t heard before but the emotional delivery and conviction in the way it is delivered keep this from being just another metalcore album (ep). From the pounding riffs and breakdowns to the clean choruses and shouted gang vocals, it’s all here, just like I remember.
Rating: 8/10
Tracklist
- Trumpet
- Monolith (feat. Michael Felker of Convictions)
- Pages
- Forget
- Deep
Release Date: November 15, 2024
Record Label: The Charon Collective
Band Members
Danny Thomas: Vocals
James Sackett: Drums
Greg Johnston: Guitar
Seth Reppond: Guitar
Kyle Calise: Guitar
Jon Lorbacher: Bass
Weblinks:
Bandcamp: https://notreatytcc.bandcamp.com/album/sound-the-trumpet
Bandsite: https://www.notreatyband.com/
X: https://x.com/notreatyband
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/notreatyband
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/07RTNuXLFN3oJrqBFp6L9V
Video for “Trumpet”
Video for “Forget”
Lyric video for “Deep”
Video for “Monolith”
Video for “Pages”