Within Choking Range

With the recent main stream success of Massachusetts metal bands such at Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, Beyond the Embrace, Red Chord, The Acacia Strain, and Unearth its seems Massachusetts is the place for up and coming bands. With such recent success from bands as Trauma Concept (Appeared on MTV’s Ozzfest reality show), Hell Within (Lifeforce Records), Legeia (Ferret Records), and Seemless, Mass. doesn’t seem to be letting up anytime soon. There’s several new bands that haven’t quite reached the success as the others mentioned but If they keep on playing out, they soon will; Within Choking Range, Screams of Erida and The Bloodening are three unsigned local bands on the rise that you need to keep on eye on.

The band's motto, “Protect your neck,” is the only way to describe the bands brutal intensity. Fitchburg’s own Within Choking Range have only been around for a year but they are already making a name for themselves. Heavily influenced by such bands as Killswitch Engage, Unearth, As I lay Dying, It Dies Today, and other metal and hardcore bands, WCR have their own style of metal. Lead by guitarists Mark Belliveau and Steve Hall, Within Choking Range write fast heavy songs with breakdowns and great melodies backed by Mark Shapiro’s screams and melodic singing. Though they have shuffled a few band members, their line up is stronger than ever. Drummer Mike Allen's punk infleunce and pounding double bass can be heard throughout the band's songs. Bassist Joe Rosbury's solid bass lines and backup vocals are a great addition to the band. WCR have been playing quite frequently across Mass in the recent months. WCR are a great live band to see with such crowd sing alongs and moshing riffs. Within Choking Range are currently taking [time] off to finish up material for their first EP with producer Ken Susi of Unearth. Ken’s past credits include Invocation of Nehek, Screams of Erida, and Burn in Silence who have all received high acclaim in the metal community. Look for WCR to start touring heavily across New England to support their CD.

-Tim Gruntkosky
www.darcsystems.com - DarcSystems - Tim Gruntkosky

Within Choking Range - Most People Just Die - 2005 - Rating: 9/10 Reviewed by: ed

Genre: Metalcore
Homepage: http://www.withinchokingrange.com/
Label: Berserkfaced Records

To sum it up before I start, fucking sick. The debut EP from DarcSystems friends Within Choking Range, produced by Ken Susi of Unearth (bonus tracks produced by Dinitwit). The cd opens with "Hangman", a damn good and heavy song, which sets a good tone for the rest of the cd. The cd has the markings of a great metalcore album, sick breakdowns, tight drumming, and good vocals. The change between two producers is only slightly noticeable, a little change in the tone.
The album comes across as lyrically "dark", one of the lines that kinda sticks out in my mind on that topic is the line (from the cds title track) "just because this is suicide doesn't mean that you didn't kill me". The energy of their live sets comes across on the cd, all that's missing is "the hug" :p. This cd is definitely what I had hoped and expected from them, I'd definitely say check it out. I'm also a fan of the art/layout of the cd, although just at a glance it can be hard to find where one song ends and another begins on the lyrics, kudos to Shaps on the layout though.

I highly reccomend the the track "Most People Just Die", which can be heard at their Myspace page


Track List:

Hangman
Unheard
Most People Just Die
Chainsaw Anthem
Sea Of Razors
Pit Maneuver
In Darkness I Wait

- www.darcsystems.com