Album Review: The Language of Injury by Ithaca

Hardcore newcomers Ithaca release their debut album The Language of Injury on 1^st February via Holy Roar Records. Formed out of a mutual love of metallic hardcore but despair at its lack of ambition, Ithaca draw influence from everything from Southern doom to 90’s math rock as well as the untethered savagery of early Poison The Well and melodious battery of Oathbreaker.

The result is crushing: grooves and shrieking guitar squalls giving way to haunting melodic passages and desolate reprieves. Visceral from the opening of ‘New Covenant’ through the album’s 32 minutes right to the end of ‘Better Abuse’. It’s threatening and pounding metallic hardcore through and through.

Sometimes with hardcore the pummelling riffs and thunderous drumming doesn’t always translate into something exciting. It can be rammed with aggression but lack that certain quality to really connect with the listener and get you moving. Ithaca avoid all those pitfalls and create a wonderfully captivating and thrilling album. It’s akin to that moment you first heard Poison The Well and realised just how good hardcore can be.

Every track here is top quality, all equally as ferocious as the next – but if you’re going to dip in, make it ‘Secretspace’ or ‘Slow Negative Order’. Get this listen to.

AD Rating 8/10