Aggression, Intensity and Ferocity is only a fraction of what Bailer’s latest album Disposable Youth brings to the Metalcore table. Deep, profound lyrics and a musical maturity beyond their years makes Bailer a colossus. No matter what genre of music you lean towards, Disposable Youth speaks to everyone. It will crush and batter you to a pulp, but the masochist in you will love every second of it!
This could well be the album that puts Bailer firmly on the international map. Those who know the Irish metal scene will know of Bailer already, and know of the power, aggression, and relentless energy they fail to keep bottled up! With magazines like Metal Hammer, Kerrang! and Metal Injection already sniffing around, Bailer have proven to be one of Ireland’s most exhilarating heavy bands. With an impressive live show resume to match, the boys have been pulverising gig-goers with their intensity and potency alongside the likes of Sick Of It All, The Black Dahlia Murder, Conjurer, Employed To Serve, Palm Reader and God Mother, to name a small few. To quote the walking encyclopaedia of the Irish metal scene, Richie of The Metal Cell Podcast, “it’s literally the equivalent of turning up at a turkey shoot with a rocket launcher, it’s that heavy! Bailer have successfully given the Metal/hardcore scene the shot in the arm it needed”. That just about sums up the wall of noise that I’m about to review. So, take a few deep, deep breaths, attempt the few stretches that your body can manage, stand clear of all valuable items, and prepare to become a man possessed as you’re catapulted into the mayhem and organised chaos of Bailer.
“Blackout” is the first of ten relatively short but pulsating tracks. The album opens with deep heavy chugging riffs, and a momentary flash of Mastodon magic. Alex O Leary then wastes no time in spitting out his venom sodden vocals that hit with utter ferocity and intensity. Their hardcore abrasiveness is both passionate and enraged and is viciously complimented by those heaving guitars and thrashing drums. The fury and tempo continues into “Bastard Son”, a high speed tirade of shredded strings and savagely beaten bass drums. Lyrics are discharged like rounds of ammunition, striking everyone that listens, “I’m so misdirected, Family became disaffected, no sense, don’t expect me to waste my time, I always knew you’d stab me in the back, Sad but true, I’ll never be you”. At under two minutes it’s a punishing metalcore onslaught that’s not for the faint hearted.
“Out Of Frame” is layered in chants and screams of angst. Just think Mudvayne’s “Dig”, and the way that track shifts through gears and time changes with perfection. The bloodied fingers of bassist David Cleere can be heard wrenching and prising through the strings during a momentary breakdown before re-joining forces with the tenacity and ferocity of the rest of the guys. Immediately after that you have Sean Conway’s manic but measured drumming coming to the forefront on “Cruel Master”. It’s absolutely crushing and is definitely made to be a live show favourite with the chants of Cruel Master hammering and bouncing off the sweat soaked walls. As with every word that Alex delivers throughout this album, it breathes hostility and malevolence, and always packs a knock out punch.
Bailer are in theory a metalcore band at heart, but their musical tentacles reach out to various other styles and genres. Take for example Chris Harte’s crushing and bruising riffs that are literally sinking in heaviness. There’s no doubt Dimebag Darrell was an influence in Chris’s style and tone. Those tentacles I speak of are actually longer than any of us can imagine, even the track “Strung Out” opens with a throwback to the seventies with its “Ballroom Blitz” drum intro, albeit at a narcotically induced pace! These guys have an arsenal of talent that’s spattered right across Disposable Youth. The boys maybe young but there’s incredible maturity in both their song structures and their lyrics. Deep, heavy topics are tackled face on whether its mental anxiety, suicide, or the battle between drugs and the youth of today. Nothing is off the table and every topic becomes personal and valid.
My own personal favourite track and the first to be released, “Gateway Drug” opens with an old movie sample that erupts into a tirade of power and anger. Lyrics like “We suffer through this, we’ll suffer on through this, slowly wearing away, Day by day, Sickness now a part of me, here to stay” are delivered with rapid fire screams, hitting the gutter with another Pantera moment, before whipping itself into a tornado of head swirls and gouging riffs. It is a monster track that will go down well with every heavy music fan, maybe even become one of those long remembered live anthemic classics. For all you trivia junkies out there, you’ll be interested to hear that the video for “Gateway Drug” was edited by Carl Whitbread of no other than We Lost The Sea, again cementing Bailer’s talent and the respect the underground scene already has for these guys. That alone speaks volumes.
The next track, “No Apologies” steam rolls its way through another tirade of hardship and never say die attitude with its cry of “I don’t want your sentiment, it’s bullshit, I don’t wanna hear it”. Throw in some psychedelic solos and some clever breakdowns and you have an unforgettable track. “Fester” Closes the album and is a collaboration with Jack Goring of Negative Measures, underpinning their roots and their rightful place in the hardcore community. It’s brutal, it’s heavy, and it pounds through your chest with those deep gouging riffs delivered at slow punishing pace, before disappearing into an abyss of distortion and nothingness.
So, there you have it y’all, Bailer have arrived and Disposable Youth is now in your head. Any fan of heavy music needs to have this album, irrespective of genre or pigeon-holing. Hell hath no fury like bailer!
