Album Review: Sectioned - Annihilated 8 (Hardcore)

Sectioned
Annihilated
Metallic hardcore/Noise
International
2018
8/10

A real noisy bunch of dudes. We have fast beats and heavily distorted chords with nonsensical screaming over the top. It’s insane and it is dumb how heavy it is. From the Converge and Code Orange school of heavy music with strong use of feedback and audio clipping. It’s unapologetic for its volume and hectic execution. It’s too experimental to be safely considered metal or hardcore – it has its own brand of heavy. A signature that you can hear on each track like a looming storm of blades.

If you’ve experienced an onslaught like the chaotic releases from The Locust then you will be on comfortable grounds with Annihilated. If this style of noise heavy music is new to you however, then you are inexplicably fucked and will have no idea how to orientate yourself within the ever-building chaos. It has its moments of clarity in its anger when the vocals clean up into discernible lyrics but even still, it creates a cautious environment for the uninitiated.

It’s a fairly long album for this sort of balls out grind-core inspired project. The more experimental/noise parts of the music fill in the quietest parts, forging an uneasy soundscape that despite being ultra-heavy, does not constitute metal (according to Metallum not having a page for Sectioned). Fair enough, I guess this is much more on the hardcore side of things with the unrelenting aggression and unfocused instruments.

It can get repetitive by the last half of the album but if you’re in the mood for destruction then you will find an infinite amount here to harvest from. It doesn’t play well with others on a playlist so just take these intense moments as they come to you on a silver platter held by shaking hands. Once you get the hang of the power it can be really fun. If you hear them slow down at all then it’s probably just to summon the devil to help create some of the darkest moments outside of black metal.

It does well to recite the metallic hardcore genre, but it doesn’t add too much of a new spin to it, except for some Fear Factory inspired industrial moments. It’s not just heavy, it’s sonically designed to annihilate the listener – and it delivers.