A Broken Code sounds like the city which bred and nurtured them. There’s the anger and intensity of the unrelenting and constantly moving NYC. There’s a social awareness which can be hard to ignore and avoid in a crowded city, where someone’s always pissed off and usually with good reason. Then there’s the effortless melding of sounds; the angular edges and energy of double bass driven heavy metal and the disenfranchised urban poetry of hip hop. All these things mixed together consciously or not, into the pressure cooker where A Broken Code makes it’s music.
The blending of heavy metal and hip hop while no longer jarring, still isn’t commonplace. Sure there are practioners which have score success, usually across a suburban audience, but A broken Code is eager to pick the flag left behind by Rage Against the Machine. There’s no party hearty, chix and dope all around, drive by’s for fun and profit anthems here. Just a conscientious exposition of lifes crueler injustices, and a desire to do what’s honorable and see a real change come about.
Their release Retribution For The Afflicted offers up 8 tracks of solid metal with bass propelled grooves, topped with rapid delivery vocals dedicated to addressing societal ills both near and far, and generously adorned with blistering guitar leads. There’s venomous rants wrapped up in thick, muscular riffs and still possessing enough soul to keep a listeners head bobbing in time to the beat.
Fed Up takes aim at poverty, painting angry portaits of the disenfranchised at wits end with nothing left to lose. The horns vamping over the songs end show another side of the band, not normally on display. Mosesis a little more obvious and in line with what’s expected from a metal/rap fusion outfit. Mad power-riffing and processed vocals are on display and it kicks like a mule. Dedicated to a Lie is built on tension and open margins with some free jazz overtones and flourishes. The chorus becomes cluttered and convulsive, only to fall away again, into spartanly adorned space. The song opens up and shuts down suddenly in manic fits and spasms, creating anticipation.
The band is four years old with a fully developed sound and personality. A five piece, featuring Front man Jenko, drummer Seven, Mansa on bass, a dual guitar attack of Nate and Lior. They gladly embrace their influences, Anthrax, Rage against the Machine and Public Enemy; proud to make a big noise which is hard to ignore.
A Broken Code is adamant about wanting you to listen. So much so their music can be downloaded for free from their website www.abrokencode.com.
While on the site: Enter this number : 88576751657100001, then enter this code: 11678
Listeners can then download a zip file of the exceptional debut album Retribution For The Afflicted or individual songs. It’s free. You’d be stupid to pass on the whole thing.