Anchor: 'Recovery'

Anchor is a straight edge hardcore band from Sweden and to me is definitely up at the top of the list for European hardcore. They have played a tremendous amount of shows and have been on an endless number of tours and I finally got the pleasure of seeing them play with Trial in London a couple of weeks ago. Recovery is definitely one of their most powerful records, which has recently been released through Let it Burn Records and is a great follow up to their previous releases Relations of Violence, The Quiet Dance and Captivity Songs.

This album contains 11 tracks of good quality hardcore music which takes all the solid parts from old school hardcore and incorporates it into a newer catchy, melodic sound with a much more modern feel. Straight away after putting this record on, you can sense the passion and devotion that each of the band members have put into this, and soon enough you will find yourself screaming along to the lyrics. The sound and style of this album is not as original as I hoped, however the messages and points of view put across in the songs is incredible and compelling.

This is most definitely a record that you will want to listen to over and over again. The strong guitar chords combined with the pounding drum rhythms produce an overall heavy feeling which is a little different from their previous material. The vocals are much deeper too which adds a raw edge to this album. The instrumental sounds are very skilful and enjoyable to the ear and the crisp passionate vocals alongside this fits perfectly with song structures. I love the heavy moshing sound that is present in the track Hemingway and on Recovering which also contains some gang vocals. The songs Lake Elsinore, Sleeping World and Echoes contain some melodic guitar work, which is more traditional of Anchor, and a constant array of metallic riffs just keep popping up and drilling into your head.

Overall, this album is intense. The more metallic sound gives Recovery a meaner and aggressive sound, which I think complements the lyrics and themes. I think this album shows Anchor at their true form, creating great songs that come honest and straight from the heart. One of Sweden’s finest! Pick it up here.