Third time round and as strong as ever
Following on from their first two compilation efforts (2005's Rock Vs Metal and 2006's Commercial Vs Acoustic), Faultline Records are back with their third in the Suburban Movement series.b Once again shining the spotlight on the underground, Suburban Movement Volume 3: Heavy Is As Heavy Does exposes seventeen acts from the broad independent metal scene that Australia has to offer. All of the bands featured have been personally selected by renowned producer/musician DW Norton (Ex-Superheist/Walk The Earth/Noir Macabre) and currently are unsigned. On the previous Suburban Movement efforts, quality and variety were the albums big selling points. And once again, Heavy Is As Heavy Does fills that selection criteria, with all of the acts featured worthy of further investigation.
Tenth Dan (Execution) kicks off the album in a truly vicious metallic hardcore manner, with acts such as Zero Kelvin (Stare At The Sky), Evelyn Close (Are You Gonna Eat That Stapler?), Liquid Optimism (Erratic), Hollow Point (Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned) and With Each Hour (The Faded Colours Will Never Return From Grey) all demonstrating variations of the melodic death/metallic/hardcore sound found in today's metal scene.
Adding a bit of a punk edge to the traditional hardcore sound is Mindset (Create To Destroy), while acts such as Sirkus (People Like You), The Violation Of Silence (Returning) and the absolutely rocking Eightball Junkies (Hey Motherfucker) inject a bit more rock into the mix.
On the more experimental and progressive side of things, The Symbiosist (Chamber), Driftpoint (With the Helmet sounding Runt) and This Future Chaos (Ghosts Of The Baltic Sea) are certainly some of the more interesting and different sounding selections on the album, giving the album some genuine variety. Finishing up the set are Bleeding Sadist (Inner Visions (Of Mortality)), Moredhel (With the dramatic My Own Betrayal), Function Cease (Desolation And Misery) and In The Burial (It's Your Turn To Die), all of whom represent the heavier death/thrash/grindcore metal side of the Australian metal scene. As an added bonus, Norton has included a song from his own band Burns Unit (Bitterness), which is a worthy send off track on the compilation.
Suburban Movement Volume 3: Heavy Is As Heavy Does does an excellent job at giving the unsigned underground metal scene a bit of well earned exposure to the mainstream. If your interests lie in the largely untapped Australian metal scene, then this compilation is an absolute must.
(Faultline Records/AmpHead Music)
