The highly acclaimed 2005 debut album “Blackout” from Melbourne melodic hardcore punks Away From Now. This is still one hellova record – second repress was a Digipak with repackaged art.
Pressing:
1000 x CDs : SOLD OUT
REVIEWS:
Bombshell Zine
AWAY FROM NOW – Blackout
In 2005, the word hardcore to some people means something totally different to what it was in ’04, which was different to ’03, you can pigeonhole things till the cows come home, but when I personally think hardcore, this album comes pretty close to its meaning in my mind, you want wanky guitars, not so understandable squelches and your chugga chugga breakdowns, you file under metal. You want energetic, passionate, hard hitting sounds one step further on from punk rock you get to hardcore, you can fuck all that though, because ultimately it is music, why should it be categorised and looked upon differently because some cool kid calls it ‘insert some stupid term’core? Why i mention this is because it is lost in my mind as to why a band like these guys can practically go unknown, while wave after wave of steaming turds can float on by, bands that worry too much about catering for the masses and what other people will think about them, when right here you have a band with guts. A live show that will stand up to, and probably kick the arse of most internationals touring, and now an album that captures all they are about to a tea. If you want to listen to a band, doing it for no other reason than something they are passionate about, then forget about that bloodsplat covered disc of the band that spent 5 hours fixing their hair for the promo shoot, they’ll be forgotton come next year, pick up this 12 track gem. It’s melodic enough vocally to understand the lyrics that have meaning, yet musically it’s powerful enough to give your balls a shake. Hopefully now with an album behind them, people will take more notice, that there is more to it than your generic bands being idolised that all sound the same, you might not be able to time your precious windmills to the breakdowns, but you’ll hear a fucking great album and see a fucking great show.
Naked Dwarf
AWAY FROM NOW – Blackout
Away from Now hail from Victoria and have been on the punk scene for around 5 years. They have supported bands such as Against Me, Goldfinger, Good Riddance and Blueline Medic. Blackout is their debut album, they have previously bought out EPs which have been very well received. So I believe this is a long awaited debut album. The band’s sound is melodic, hardcore and sometimes could be described as a bit emo. Lead singer Luke’s vocals sound grunty and can easily go from melodic to hardcore with ease. The band members are all influenced by different bands and you can hear that in this album. The title track ‘Blackout’ is a raw sounding energetic punk track with some chunky riffs, a great starter track to pull you into the album. The album continues in a similar manner throughout all the tracks, some however do focus more on the hardcore or on the straight out punk.
‘Drought Line’ is a good example of the emo sound I was hearing slightly coming through from the band, It’s a slightly softer track with really melodic vocals, I could even see this being done acoustically and sounding really good for a bit of a change, another of these tracks is ‘Integral To Life’ it’s a nice change from the hardcore sounds of the album and slows it all down a bit and you can really hear how decent the vocalist Luke is on this track. The next track ‘Hit The Ground’ starts with quite a traditional rock sounding riff, however you can still hear the punk influence coming through. I quite enjoyed the riff of this song and think it would be a good live track. ‘The Legend of the Lone Pine’ starts out with some interesting guitar sounds before going into the traditional punk chord progression we are used to hearing. This is a fantastic debut album from the Victorian band and I’m looking forward to catching them live next time they are playing in my area. My only critisicm of this album is especially when I listened to it on my stereo at home it seemed the vocals were very much overridden at times by the band. I still do recommend this album though if your into punk/hardcore and even if your not its great especially to support your local Australian talent.
Bizoo Zine #24
AWAY FROM NOW – Blackout
Melbourne based punk act, Away From Now have been slogging it out over the past five years releasing a swag of EPs and splits on their way. To be honest, I haven’t heard any of their work before. Think along the lines of Bodyjar with a mix of Hot Water Music. Currently there’s so much music out there that calls itself hardcore but if you strip it back you’ll find a bunch of spoilt little rich kids with fancy hair cuts, a tonne of body tatts and melodic vocals with screamo elements. I like to call it “fashioncore” as it’s more focused on image than anything else. Anyway, those bands have given the hardcore genre a terrible name. Away From Now aren’t one of those bands. So, I’m extremely hesitant in categorising them, or even mentioning the word “hardcore”. I found it hard to pinpoint a sttandout track as all the songs are super solid! I have to say that it’s one mighty fine debut album and I’m definitely interested in checking out their live show
Dr Jerm
HardcoreSounds – Finland
AWAY FROM NOW – Blackout
After 6 years of hard work the five piece melodic punk/hardcore band has finally produced thier debut album “Blackout”. Before the full length, they released 3 ep’s of which were ‘How The Beau Monde Breathe’ (2001) and soon after releasing ‘Shadows Allude Invade’ (2002) then following up with ‘Sic Semper Tyrannis’ (2003). In 2004 they were placed on a split cd along with well-known australian hardcore bands named “The Amity Affliction” “Hi End Audio” “Miles Away” “Perish the Thought”. While “Blackout” only being out for a short time sales have hit sky high with stores being out of stock, showing what high demand AwayFromNow has and such a large fan base. This album is full of catchy riffs and strong vocals. The music that continues to be made by this talented band is amazing, and forever out doing their previous releases with songs such as “blackout” “Drought Line” “Integral To Lie”. This album is not all about fast music and screaming vocals, theres more to it, with soft tunes and songs with meaning. Finally, to all respected punk/hardcore fans, this album is a good choice. With many bands being overlooked in the days of today, AwayFromNow are breaking through and making themselves more successful. Good Work AwayFromNow, and to Pee Records, keep up the awesome work.
POSTED BY: deadm1ne on 2006-01-16
RANK: 4 / 5
RELEASE DATE:
08 Dec 2005
Also Available From:
CREDITS:
CAT #: PCD010
Recorded at: Three Phase Studios, Melbourne
Recorded & Engineered by: Sam, Scott & Jake
Artwork by: Pete Pee
