Reprisal
Where Heavy Gloom Dominate (1997)
Had never listened to Reprisal's first album before, and man is it crushing. Their second was much more thrashy metalcore that sounded like a slightly less good version of Arkangel, but here they really bring the thuggish, New York hardcore grooves and breakdowns, all with a death metal brutality and vocal approach. Like a way better version of deathcore before deathcore existed (1997). Mother**** is this raw and brutal. One of the truly underrated late-90s/early-00s metalcore bands. Not particularly original, just totally awesome.
Boundless Human Stupidity (2000)
Probably their best, the aforementioned thrashier metalcore album. Slayer as **** and just totally rips. Required listening for any Arkangel fans as its the closest I've ever heard to
Dead Man Walking. Brutal as **** breakdowns too. The vocals are a bit less death metally, but still raw and ugly. I've listened to this album way too many times and you should too. The Arkangel link is furthered by their straight-edge, Vegan lyrics, but pretty much every European metalcore band of the time seemed to be about the same **** anyway.
Mailorder Knife Set (2001)
Haven't listened much to this album, but like any Reprisal release it rips. Probably their worst, but it's all relative. Closer to their debut in sound, but without much death metal or thrash, this is very much a beatdown hardcore metalcore album, but it's definitely one of the better examples of the genre. At the very least it's cool as **** that Reprisal never made the same album twice, even if they were never all that original. Great energy as always with this record too.