On Sight – Cause Of Pain (Album Review)

Posted on April 22, 2020 by Ebony Story

On Sight – Cause Of Pain
Released: April 24th, 2020

On Sight Lineup

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Steadily building a name for themselves in New Jersey’s prolific hardcore scene since 2016; On Sight has shared the stage with the likes of Xibalba, Judiciary, Death Threat and more. Cause Of Pain is their debut with Unbeaten Records and a highly anticipated follow up to their 2018 EP, Fading Out.

Cause Of Pain is reminiscent of old school youth crew hardcore with its lyrical content being centered around the concept of pivotal choices one makes and the overall outcome of these choices. It includes themes of dealing with the loss of loved ones from drugs, battling addiction, divorce and death, as well as abuse of power from law enforcement. The album has a very energetic, harsh, fast paced sound with influence from crossover thrash, which is prominent in the guitar solos, with heavy two-step hardcore breakdowns following suit.

Cause of Pain opens with the track ‘Without You’ and it will get you in an energetic mood as the track opens with some groovy two step riffs and jumps right into the action with JT Giordano’s rough aggressive vocal delivery, leading the assault and reaching its climax with some tight, thrashy guitars that really get you wanting more.

Being one of the band’s singles on the way to the release of this album, ‘Expired’ is one of my favorites as it packs in so much for a two-minute run time. It has everything and it’s all executed brilliantly. The track charges into the fray with a mosh inducing drum beat, two step parts, solos and some nasty breakdowns. Its lyrics are catchy and centered around one’s mental health, “I’m tired of being sick and tired/ even though I’m down, I’m shaking and I’m wired/ Don’t tell me that I haven’t been trying/ My time is up yeah, its expired.” With those backing vocals really bringing it all together with a great delivery, it’s an impressive track. You can tell this will be a go to track for live performances and a real crowd pleaser.

‘Best Bet’ starts out with a lighthearted Beastie Boys’ sample, then comes crashing right into some real heavy, creeping riffs and harsh, fast vocals. This song exudes a beatdown style, making it one of the heaviest on the track list and changes the pace up very smoothly in comparison with the previous songs, keeping things interesting and the hard knocks still knocking.

Starring as another single on the album, ‘Out of Time’ puts On Sight’s tight and fast paced songwriting on full display yet again. The track is relentless, featuring some of the nastiest breakdowns and groove laden riffs all tied into a great song structure. ‘Fire And Ice’ is as the name implies – a song about duality being “torn between two/ until I rot and writhe”. This song has a crunchy bassline followed by some neat drumming. The title track ‘Cause Of Pain’ goes hard as the song sticks strongly to the theme of abuse of power from authority figures and promoting ideology to use your head and think for yourself, with the beatdown hardcore style strongly helping the delivery.

Coming last on the tracklist, ‘Dead Ends’ has the most powerful vocals on the album, putting a sense of urgency to the argument being raised. It’s one of the most prominent themes of the album and an ongoing topic throughout the hardcore scene; you’re in control of your own destiny by means of your own actions.

With exceptional songwriting ability and tight, fast paced songs with aggressive anthems, Cause Of Pain is a great album for fans of hardcore as it does so much of it right. Although the songwriting could have a bit more variety, it shows the spirit of the scene I have come to love. Being their first LP, On Sight are on to something great here and should be a band to watch out for on their future endeavours.