EP Spotlight: No Spirit by Barricade

By Ryan Germ
 I feel like HC is reaching a point where people are getting sick of the same 0–0-1 chugs over and over again by the most cookie cutter beatdown bands and we’re FINALLY reaching a HC punk revival. We’re seeing Haywire leading that charge but there’s also End It and Start Today blowing up too, and that’s not to mention rising stars like Suicide Eyes, my homies in Vulture Raid, and fast rising South FL youth crew outfit Barricade. Let me tell ya, Barricade has the spirit (pun absolutely intended). Back in my Lorecord days me and bassist Matt or Zucc depending on how you know him first met each other. Throughout around a year of conversations between the time of when we met and Barricade beginning he always would yap to me and my other homies about how he loves Floorpunch to death and was dying to start a youth crew band. Guess what? He did it, and it makes me stoked to see how far my friend has come since we met as they’re about to tour the east coast. I gave this EP a spin already and it’s leaps and bounds better than their demo. Anyways, I’ve rambled for far to long so I’ll shut my mouth and start talking about this record.

We start off with the title track. A primal yell by vocalist Gabi and some fills before we go into a fast part. After we go to a solid 2 step part. A side to side part queues in the big 2 step part complete with gang vocals of the title of the track to end the song.

The next song is On My Own. It starts off by counting off on the hi hats, then a fast part hits you before almost immediately going into a super riffy 2 step part for the verse. A buildup to the 2 step part occurs on the toms and you KNOW I’m a sucker for that shit. You have a whole kit, use it. Then it goes into the big 2 step part and then a stompy ass breakdown to end the track.

The next song Force of Will, starts off with a crunchy bassline. The riff comes in and it goes into a nice 2 step part for the dancers. A fast verse suited for diving comes up next in the structure for this track. A short lead in for the mosh part is next, and to my happiness it’s a big picking up the change part to end the track. 

We’re at the midpoint with the next song Kingdom. It starts off with a slow groovy part before going into the verse tailor made for 2 stepping. It goes back to that groovy part again and then back to the verse. A blast beat ends the song. I was anticipating a big mosh part but it was still a sick track.

Next song is Determined. It starts with a speedy riff and an even speedier snare roll which goes into the fast part. Then a stompy yet somewhat fast part follows that up. A 2 step part follows that up. The fast part comes back to end the track.

That last song transitions into Goodbye. Which ironically is not the final track. It starts with counting off on the hi hats and one hit on the crash. After that it goes straight to a blast beat for the verse, then there’s a fill that follows the vocals into a 2 step part and it rips hard. Some leads follow the drums as well for that 2 step part. A blast beat ends the track.

We’re at the real final song. Rule of Thumb. We start off with a fast riff and a fast drum part. After that we reach a 2 step part. It goes on for a while before everything cuts out and we’re left with a side to side part into a breakdown with a “Straight Edge” callout. If you’re edge and into youth crew check this out. You might fuck with it