Stick to Your Guns
Better Ash Than Dust

Apparently it is better with ash than dust. It is a new EP from American hardcore heroes Stick to Your Guns who received a glimmering review for their album Diamonds that we reviewed some years ago. Now, some years later they have a new label that promotes pure noise and they have a new five-track EP out there for you to look at. And it is not bad to look at either, as the artwork is rather amusing and it makes you want to look closer at the EP.

Musically it is hardcore, not the silly type that just screams and plays loud like a stupider version of punk rock. This is a quality production that sounds very good with a good vocalist and a fair bit of controlled power. It is five tracks on this EP and they show a little bit of variation and it plays for seventeen minutes – I think that is a bit on the short side as it ends before it really starts and the clever thing would be to wait for the album.

Besides being a tad too short I think it works well, even though I would have liked a really distinctive hit track that really makes you want to return to the album. I think it offers hardcore that is better than most hardcore, it is music that will probably appeal to more than just the hardcore fans and I think it is an EP that could be worth checking out. Still, I think the best thing it does is building up expectations for an upcoming album that I hope will materialise very soon.

I like this EP, but the EP-format is kind of pointless and I’d much rather have seen them making an album as it would have been more space and time to come to really take to it. An EP needs one or two fantastic hit songs and this just doesn’t have it, therefore these tracks would have fitted better on an album – nevertheless it is still a good EP and you won’t regret giving it a chance.

HHHHHHH