Get The Shot's 'Infinite Punishment' Goes Hard As Fuck

16 August 2017 | 1:57 am | Alex Sievers
Originally Appeared In

No-bullshit hardcore that takes no prisoners.

No-bullshit hardcore that takes no prisoners. 



Hey, here's a question for you. Have you ever listened to recent hardcore bands such as Knocked Loose and thought "Yeah, this is cool and all but I just wish it was... better"? Well, if your answer is 'yes', then fret no longer my friends, for I present to you one such better example - Quebec's Get The Shot.

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Now, excusing Get The Shot's fucking woeful band name for a quick second, this five-piece have easily produced some of the best 90's hardcore/80's thrash crossover you're likely to hear in all of 2017. Period.

Of course, the hellish crossover sound this DIY Canadian band adheres to on the newly released 'Infinite Punishment' isn't a great deal different from their decent 2014 full-length, 'No Peace In Hell'. Which in turn, just continued the formula of their 2012 debut, 'Perdition'. In fact, the band's third LP is basically just 'No Peace In Hell' except now it's sporting a tighter, louder mix, an incredibly filthy yet suitable bass tone that'll knock your teeth right in, a far stronger emphasis on flowing groove and impactful breakdowns, all the while displaying a more venomous, harder-hitting sonic approach than ever before.

And that makes all of the difference, really. For with this new 12-track record, Get The Shot have struck real gold in creating a heavier, beefier, darker and more evil sound overall, and that positions 'Infinite Punishment' as arguably their best work yet in the process. Whether it's in their crunchy, demonically slower-paced groove sections ('Demon Stomp', 'Den Of Torments'), their genuinely effective breakdowns that land with real weight ('Purgation', 'Slayed Kings'), the sharp and succinct pit-calls that bury right inside your brain ('Profaner', 'Faith Reaper') the band's liberal use of death metal growls slipping underneath their vocalists violent shouting ('Evil Rites', 'Waging Death'); this record is one tough son of a bitch!

I mean, yes, 'Infinite Punishment' is definitely nothing new for hardcore or thrash metal but it takes the very best of each genre and pulls them both into one savagely aggro sound whose bite and bark should both be equally feared.

Get The Shot

Aside from creating their strongest, most cut-the-shit record to date, this Quebec City-based hardcore crew clearly carry their musical influences on their collective tattooed sleeves with this LP.

More specifically, the vehement vocals of frontman J-P hit a solid midpoint between the high-pitched shouts of Knocked Loose's Bryan Garris, the throaty grit and aggression of Stray From The Path's Drew York, a James Hetfield-esque delivery when the rare bit of singing appears, and the odd death metal growl that pushes Get The Shot's music in darker directions when present. Oh, and getting Stick  To Your Guns' Jesse Barnett to appear on the absolute standout that is 'Blackened Sun' works real wonders for the record's flow too. As for the instrumentals, the band perfectly channels the pure riffage and bleak tones of Slayer's output, display an unmistakable Pantera-like approach to their solos, leads and dive bombs, and they combine this with the thick rhythm sections, stomping breakdowns and gang vocals of modern hardcore's elite, such as Hatebreed and Comeback Kid.

And while maybe not a key musical influence, the sample of Elvis Presley's 'Only The Lonely' that suddenly closes out the short and menacing cut of 'Evil Rites' was an odd, yet nice little touch. No, I'm not making that part up either.

However, while the actual music on 'Infinite Punishment' is something that I could not recommend enough for anyone looking for a new hardcore band to love and froth over, their biography does rub me the wrong way a little bit. For example, part of their online bio on Facebook reads:

"...“Infinite Punishment” is a dark and brooding record delivered with the distinctive ferocity and violent vigour of five disillusioned spirits who have nothing left to lose. No fashion, no frills, no lies. Get The Shot is all about rage and anger toward this harsh place we live in."

'Rage' and 'anger' definitely sum up this band's sound, no doubt. But if you're not aware, the actual stats suggest that Get The Shot's home town of Quebec City is one of the safer cities you'll find in Canada. On top of that, a 2015 annual police report found that there are actually fewer than five homicides a year in the city, with the tragic exception of a shooting on a mosque in January of this year that sadly left six people dead. Not that a low rate of murder or crime is the best thing - having zero murder and crime would be the most desired outcome, obviously - and while I won't pretend to fully understand the band members personal situations and individual lives, if I look at the city's facts, the only hardship I can see them facing would be the rather cold weather, a Conservative leaning voting trend, and people saying 'bonjour'.

That being said, that bio could have merely been some generalised, edgy statement about Get The Shot's wider disgust for our world as a whole. In which case, carry on. Whatever the original case may have been, however, that doesn't change how goddamned solid and consistent this record is; the kind of album that Hatebreed's own Jamie Jasta would describe on his podcast as "HARD!".

Stream 'Infinite Punishment' below. Each day you put this wicked album off is another day wasted in ignorance.



Header photo credit: Capture The Core. 'Infinite Punishment' is out now via New Damage Records - go and buy it here