Hardcore got really weird in the 90’s. A lot of bands shamelessly incorporate more and more metal sound in their music. I’m not talking about thrash/crossover bands like DRI or Corrosion Of Conformity, but bands that do the whole drop-tuned chugging riffs thing. A few bands definitely pulled off this style well and even managed to make interesting music, but for the most part I think this style was played out and boring. Looking back at it, so many bands sounded like a nu-metal band.
Botch was part of the 90’s scene, for the most part. They spent their lifespan as a band mostly during the 90’s before calling it quits in 2002. We Are The Romans was the band last full-length and probably their most accomplished work (although I love Anthology of Dead End Ep as well).
Botch plays a unique brand of metallic hardcore, focusing a lot on rhythms and dynamics. Although every single member of the band was definitely talented, it’d be hard not to notice guitarist Dave Knudson and his riffs first. Dave plays a lot of off-kilter pull-off hammer-on start-stop riffs with unusual time signature not unlike their contemporary, The Dillinger Escape Plan. If DEP’s riffs are brutal and chaotic, then Botch’s are groovy and tasteful. Botch sound was relatively new at the time. They’re not afraid to mix up their song structures or to write an 8+ minutes song. To me, they bridged the 90’s hardcore sound and the early 00’s era when metallic hardcore blew up.
Obviously this band is not for everyone. Some people might find that Botch music strays away too much from what hardcore usually perceived as. But then again, by this notion about 70% of the 90’s bands did too.
