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PRO-PAIN
Straight To The Dome

Goomba Music (2012)
Rating: 9/10

Pro-Pain are one of those bands that people remember from the early days of nu-metal. The problem with that is simply that they were never nu-metal and they have never gone away. In fact, in many ways it feels like the New York band is more popular than they have ever been while less people seem to know who they are. Ah, life’s strange intricacies.

Straight To The Dome is the band’s latest album and they do what they have always done, which is offer up big, chunky metal tunes with a NYC hardcore edge that make you want to start a pit and bang your head for 45 minutes straight. And they just get better with age.

‘Straight To The Dome’ opens the circle pit with a more hardcore-edged ditty with some “hey hey” and some nice breakdowns. It’s the all out assault of ‘Payback’ though that gets you really into this, launching into a mosh that showcases how tight the band is (even though the line-up is seemingly always in a flux state) and culminates with the soon-to-be classic line “Goodbye. Farewell. You get on my nerves. In the end, you get what you fucking deserve!”

‘Bloodlust For War’ is one of the fastest tunes Pro-Pain have ever offered and the creepy little guitar lick in the beginning separates it just enough from the pack to make it a stand out. ‘Zugabe!’ has a little Oi feel to it that makes me drool at the thought of Pro-Pain playing more to this style. It’s got really melodic guitars and is a excellent punk singalong, but it still maintains the heaviness that the band has staked their claim on. ‘Sucks To Be You’ is another favourite here, with rumbling guitars and plenty of lead foot stepping as Gary Meskill (vocals / bass) not-so-gently reminds people that they, in fact, suck.

The thing about Pro-Pain is that they literally never let up. Every album is non-stop “fistful of hate” and Straight To The Dome is no exception. Something about this album takes everything up a notch though. Like with AC/DC albums, they all basically sound the same but Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (1976), Back In Black (1980) and The Razor’s Edge (1990) just have something a little extra behind them that make them the best. For Pro-Pain it’s The Truth Hurts (1994), Fistful Of Hate (2004) and Straight To The Dome that just have that spark that makes them ever so slightly edge out their other albums. This is definitely a must have 2012 album for metal fans.

Mark Fisher

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