The Living End
Based out of Australia, The Living End takes a fascinating look on the world of punk. A couple of things to note about them. They are a 3-piece band, with an upright bass player, similar to a rockabilly group (more on that later), their material is usually complicated, featuring guitar solos, breakdowns, instrumentals, and lyrics rooted in social critique. They don't stick to just punk rock material either.
It's almost tempting to call them an experimental punk band, that dabbles in rock n roll, rockabilly (hence the upright bass player), pop punk, and later in their career, alternative rock. Early in their career, The Living End adopted a weird combination of punk rock and rockabilly that is often just called punkabilly.
However, there's also a much rougher, harsher side to The Living End, that goes beyond punkabilly, and sounds closer to hard rock, or, dare I say sounds similar to 80s metal. This harsher style has even earned the band a few
tracks on Guitar Hero. That's actually how I came to hear about the band; I first heard about them seven years ago back in middle school when I spent my days playing
Guitar Hero.
Hellbound
Hellbound is their first release, an EP, recorded in 1995. A close friend of mine found a link to this
Australia-only release way back in the day, and gave me the album download. You must scour the web to find this album unless you live in Australia, because it was only released there.
The genre of this EP is very difficult to categorize. Most of the songs feature a punk and punkabilly style, but a few songs sound like a less-harsh sounding
Kill Em All. The album has breakdowns, edgy riffs, intricate solos, minor tempo changes, and even features a highly technical instrumental track. Most of the lyrics deal with punk rock-typical social critique.
I recommend checking out this EP. Punk can be hit-or-miss for me, but
Hellbound goes all over the place so it's enough to keep me interested. It's also got some great riffs, and the variety is pretty impressive for a debut release.
The highlights of this album for me are: "Trace of Doubt," "Hellbound," "The Living End," "Hedlines," and "Do What I Do."