After quite a long hiatus, XL&DBD are back with The Beginning of Closure, their first album since their debut in 1993, keeping the same sound as they had back in the 90’s.
Early into The Beginning of Closure I found myself wondering if I’d entered a time warp taking me back to the early 90s’. Everything about this album seems like it should be the follow up to their debut album Sodom and America, but that came out in 1993. The general sound of the band is that of one that would have been popular in Christian bookstores in the early 90’s alongside, Pillar, Pax217, .rodlaver, East West, and other bands of that rap-rock-core sound. While production is clean, it does lack a bit of punch that might have saved these tracks a bit and led them to sound a bit less dated. The lyrics in “Go Away” are so over the top cheesy, one has to wonder if this is a parody of Christian metal in the late 80’s – early 90’s.
…”and all the way from your head to your toes, you’re looking like Bathsheba, but keep on your clothes…so please take your hands off my pecs…ain’t gonna be no sex”.
Musically, the band is competent for the rapcore genre and while sounding a bit dated in terms of overall sound and song structure, they would have fit in well back in the early 90s’. Production is clean, vocals are clean and the rhythm section is clear in the mix.
This album is a tough listen. On one hand, if it was 30 years ago, it might have fared better, but the sound and style is so dated and the lyrics bordering on being so cheesy, that this can only really work if it was a parody or a nostalgia release of an album from the early 90s.
Rating: 5/10
Written by John Jackson
Tracklist
- Vacillate
- No More Cheatin’
- The End Justifies the Means (feat. Oz Fox of Stryper)
- Bleed Through
- You’re My Enemy
- Reckless Abandon
- One More Murder
- Trench Warfare
- Bruised Reed
- Go Away
- One By One
- Rise Again
Release Date: April 17th. 2020
Record label: Roxx Records
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Lyric video for ‘Vacillate‘
Lyric video for ‘The End Justifies the Means‘
