Biohazard - Divided We Fall

In their heyday, Biohazard were a seething monster in a live setting. Their shows were invariably crushing performances that overspilled with indominable hardcore energy. Some of us who witnessed that gloriously bruising camaraderie where classic hardcore metal tunes were played by Brooklyn hardasses raised in the hardside have hankered for that type of fix ever since.

Biohazard themselves have probably lost count of how many hiatuses and line-up changes they have gone through from the years between then and now but let’s just say it has been over 20 years since the classic line-up has played together. So Divided We Fall is quite a prospect….and a risk. After all, a bunch of guys shouting about gangs, violence and the tough streets decades after they have left their ecosystem could risk Dadcore accusations.

But do you know what, Divided We Fall is a damn triumph of ageless fury. The first singles released are straight up banging ‘hazard classics. Recalling the youthful confrontational vigour of Urban Discipline and State of World Address these tracks will drop like a hormone bomb in a live setting to make middle aged men feel sixteen once more. Fuck the System and Forsaken are savage testosterone, pure hardcore cross over fury and indignation. Seinfeld and Grazadei having been guzzling from the fountain of youth, as you wouldn’t think they are in their mid-50s as they sound pumped, snarling and spitting. Even when they decelerate, they bite like the violent grind of Death of Me.

All the singles front load Divided We Fall, so there was risk the energy levels might dip thereafter. After all, hardcore is a notoriously difficult art to sustain throughout a record’s runtime. Incredibly, the rest of the album is almost indefatigable. Fight to be Free and War Inside Me have the old boy hardcase cross-over of Agnostic Front and Madball. It’s fair to say they even dial up with blood vessel popping hardcore riffs and gravelly gang chants on the final tracks of the record. Sensibly, this record is a punchy, terse affair, the way this music should be delivered. If you are aiming for a PB on the old gym weights then throw away your protein shake and stick on Divided We Fall!