now I know my enemies: Stray From The Path "Anonymous"

Above: the author, not doing what you tell him.

I fucking LOVE Rage Against the Machine. Their trademark style of big-ass arena riffs, widdly-wah guitar effects, and just-pointed-enough political ranting struck one hell of a chord with my fifteen-year-old self, and it's safe to say that chord never stopped ringing. The oldest shirt I own is a RATM concert tee, and it's barely hanging together these days, but it's still in regular rotation, as are Evil Empire and Battle of Los Angeles, and even that wonky covers collection Renegades.

But this post isn't about Rage. Not completely, anyway.

Enter Stray From The Path, a hardcore outfit hailing from Long Island, who clearly enjoy the works of Rage as much as I do (plus a healthy dose of influence from the likes of Refused, Every Time I Die, Raised Fist, and the occasional dubious nu-metal-ism). I am admittedly unfamiliar with their back catalog (if they even have one - I don't tend to do a lot of research when I write these things), but god damn if this album doesn't totally smoke. 

Angular riffs and whammy pedal manipulation are king on here, and the vocals are reminiscent of Zack de la Rocha's nasal snarl (high register, spitting vitriol). Lyrics like "You can try but I won't go quiet / in the back of a cop car / you are not above the law" hit me right in the goods. This is the album Rage might have made, had they been a gang of East Coast edge kids rather than beach-dwelling dreadlocked Californians. 

But I must avoid the shameless comparisons as much as possible. Stray From The Path have forged an identity within this established sound, and it shows. Breakdowns abound, buttressed by wacky guitar sounds and sloganeering, as do absolutely raging punk parts (some songs even featuring blast beats!). 

I am reminded of Carcass clones (Impaled, General Surgery, Exhumed) and Bodom copycats (Norther, Kalmah, a thousand others whose names I cannot recall) - these bands all set out to imitate their heroes, which is in no way a bad thing. All of them also managed to forge their own niche in a narrow market, which is nothing to sneer at. Stray From The Path are the only ones doing this sound these days, and I admire them for that; it takes balls to reclaim the torch for a style so clearly out of vogue, and Anonymous, to these ears, sounds like a labor of love. They say the classics never go out of style.

And holy shit, "Radio" rips like a gang of motherfuckers.

Stream the album here, and buy it, too. It's out right now.