Although they describe themselves as a straightforward hardcore band, Birmingham, Alabama's All In reveal strong ties to the slower tempos and viscous weight of sludgecore on their first album, 2006's
Nothing to Lose. This is most likely a factor of growing up in the South, where sludge has been the prevailing regional aesthetic for so long, young bands are likely to confuse it for straightforward hardcore, instead of one of its main offshoots. In any case, the quintet spend the majority of their existence trudging lead-footed through their repertoire (one can visualize their fans patiently staking out circle-pit territory, waiting to dive in if things ever accelerate), and even though they do pick up the pace in the beginning of most every song (even going all staccato-metal on the intro to "The Bunk Price Is Right"), each and every one of these tunes inevitably grinds to a near-halt midway through. Clean narrative vocals occasionally interrupt the predominant death growls, and a few melodic guitar lines are even peppered here and there (see tiny bits in "Sarcasm Killed the Rabies" and "It Starts With One Sleeve of Extraordinary Gentlesauce"), but these sound utterly anomalous and forced just for fashion's sake. Then again, the first truly fresh-sounding riff to emerge here doesn't arrive until song number eleven, "Ka Ka Kaboom! The Triple Chicken Bite," which brings up another point about All In: they need to consult their straightforward hardcore handbook to tell us where it says that song titles should be ridiculously silly and/or based on unfathomable intra-band jokes. Notice as well the frequently clunky arranging transitions and often flashy, but fundamentally flawed instrumental performances (not to mention those tediously repetitive song structures -- although, at least that's straightforward hardcore), and here's a band who could have used a little more seasoning before ever being allowed into a studio. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia