LETS GROW - "DISEASE OF MODERN TIMES" LP

Lets Grow were a Serbian hardcore punk band active from 2001-2010, releasing their last and most fully formed LP Disease of Modern Times in 2009 through Know Records.
Disease of Modern Times explodes straight off the bat with first song Lost and from there fires burst after burst of a hardcore punk/thrash hybrid straight down your throat. Lets Grow plays a noise reminiscent of genre-pioneering bands such as Municipal Waste and S.O.D. and yet manages to bring their own unique energy to the sound. At thirteen songs to eighteen minutes, Disease of Modern Times' songs averages to about a minute and a half per piece so they never outstay their welcome, with each piece sounding more fresh and invigorated than the last. The band synergises well, with no one instrument outdoing the other in terms of volume or technicality. Each instrument, including the vocals, knows its place and they come together to create the dynamite sound they want. Nothing really hogs the spotlight, everything rotates in equal parts.

Disease mostly abstains from guitar solos more than ten seconds long until a long rock bridge in the second last song Immortal Death where the lead guitarist rocks a bluesy minor pentatonic solo, building up his speed as he goes.The band seems to greatly understand the dynamic of hardcore, never playing fast for the sake of it but when it is appropriate. The drummer follows the band (or perhaps the other way around) through a variety of beats instead of hammering out the usual bass-snare-bass-snare hardcore most punk bands play circa post-NOFX. The band balances out slower (relatively) rockier parts with forays into grindcore-esque parts, which keeps the momentum moving forward without exhausting the listener. They walk punk's razor edge of playing incredibly tight without sounding too refined and nail it perfectly.

Singer Dario has a barking shout which is never whiney and always aggressive, particularly on Man Is The Measure Of All Things when they add a layer of distortion to his voice that makes it sound all the more angry. He fronts the entire thing himself, there are none of your usual shouted backup vocals and minimal use of group chants, where even then it sounds like he's doing it all himself. He shouts the lyrics so fast that he doesn't have time to expel every word of every sentence, so it can be hard to understand what he's saying unless you're reading the lyrics along with him. When you do, you find a pleasantly competent amateur poetry, one that echoes the desolate cover picture of a young man in a hoodie staring into his computer screen, with the crushing words NO NEW MESSAGES staring back at him. He condemns modern life, the “zombie scene” he feels lost and alone in, and yearns for happy moments and meaningful connections. In Shit Goes Around he screams: My world has captured me / I can't move in a small cage / Agony and frustration / I wanna touch the light, turn the page / I wanna catch this moment of joy! He wants people to take responsibility for their lives and their world. Some of the rhymes and sentiments are obvious and cliché, but overall it's a nice and good cynical look at everyday modern life, and a viewpoint worth thinking about.

Talking about “the production” on a punk album is always iffy, but it must be said that the mix in Disease is actually pretty good, the bass is never drowned out and nothing is lost in the chaos of the music. The somewhat simplistic pan-this-instrument-here-and-leave-it-for-the-whole-song is indicative of the genre, so don't expect any flashy studio techniques. What you see is what you get.Disease of Modern Times is available online for free download (as is their entire discography) and is overall an amazing record, one highly recommended whether you are into hardcore or just wanting to listen to something heavier. 8/10 would bang