BIRD EATER
Utah
(Exigent)

JESU
Lifeline
(Hydra Head)

EVILE
Enter the Grave
(Earache)

STINKING LIZAVETA
Scream of the Iron Iconoclast
(At a Loss)

WOLVES IN THE
THRONE ROOM
Two Hunters
(Southern Lord)

RED FANG
S/T 

(Wantage)

PURE SOUNDART
Emo is Dead

(Lockjaw)

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Who the hell is this drummer? The dude rips. He sorta reminds me of a busier version of Eric Stevenson from Only Living Witness. Both drummers, though differing in style obviously have a superior idea as to what their role is in the band. In Don’t Worry Lady Nic Steczkiewicz fills every space with aggressive and appropriate gusto enhancing the sound of the band above your average hardcore. The dude’s got style like few in aggressive music. The Neil Peart of extreme music if you will.  That’s not to say that the rest of I Hate Sally struggle. On the contrary, their dynamism highly differentiates them from most hardcore bands and their fearless incursions in outside the box genre patterns isolates the band from its genre peers.  For an example of this, just check out the guitar playing on “Iseah’s Rife”.  Excellent.

Like most bands these days, I Hate Sally are not content with dwelling in one genre; so through the course of these ten tracks this bunch does its best to keep the variation going. “Iseah’s Rife” is perhaps the centerpiece; an epic track of giant proportions that takes the band through despairing territories. Starting off with racing guitars which segue into an abysmal instrumental passage that morphs into technical hardcore and subsequently falls apart. I said epic, so at this point we are only halfway through the song; but all I need to say is that this record rules. “Iseah’s Cancer” follows, back to back to the calculated pummeling of the previous track, this, by the title, might signify the end, a compliment to the story the band had begun telling. “Iseah’s Cancer” is a more peaceful instrumental, the kind of track that jumps into post rock territory because of its voiceless emotional charge. And we haven’t even gotten to the ten minute scorcher “Anna’s Empty Conscious for the Blessed”.  I Hate Sally prove to be ambitious where everyone else conforms to the implied rules of the genre. Better yet, they have all their ideas right in place and Don’t Worry Lady flawlessly displays each one.

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