Champion - Promises Kept

I'm not a huge hardcore fan anymore. It's range is limited and it's sound grew old for me about 3 years after high school... so like 8 years ago. So I was a bit reluctant to pick up this album. It came recommended from a friend and I am damn glad I bought it.

I spent the majority of time driving home trying to slice the cd out of it's damn plastic sticky wrapping and didn't get to listen to it much in the car (sadly, my best stereo) and had to listen to it at work through headphones on my powermac. The first thing about it that caught my attention was that the whole fucking thing is straight edge. Not just one or two songs, but the whole album. Every word. And not just shallow lyrics but stuff that made me feel less alone in being a straight edge guy. The struggle, the passion, the pain, the benefits and the glory of being straight edge in every song. 100% killer for content on this album.

It's been a long time since I listened to hardcore and I've been listening to a lot of complex jazz lately so I'm not sure I'm qualified to rate on the music on this album. Let's just say that for hardcore these guys are competent. It's not dry, it's not boring. It's good. If you dig hardcore. It's got enough energy to carry the album on it's own, even if you disregard the lyrics.

Straight edge started in the hardcore realm and in many ways it still stays there. Many straight edgers are loaded with pent up energy and hardcore is a damn good expression of how we deal with it. If you can play this, or if you can mosh in a pit to this you don't need drugs and you don't need the headaches of those who use them.

I'm damn glad I bought this album and I have no doubt that I'll work a few of the songs into most of my playlists. Check it out when you can. It's damn good.

Rating for Champion - Promises Kept: 8 / 10