Boston hardcore act Death Before Dishonor are back after two years of hardcore touring with an all new powerful album Count Me In. Perhaps one of the better hardcore bands out there this year, they have created a heavier, harder CD with plenty of crew vocals to accompany the blaring guitar riffs. This album compares to fellow hardcore bands Hatebreed, Blood For Blood, and even reminds me of Earth Crisis. This is their first full length release under Boston’s own Bridge Nine Records.

The opening intro is a nice initiation to the title track “Count Me In”. The course heavy screaming is accompanied by the crew vocals singing lyrics that are very personal but seem like they were written very quickly. Overall the track is fierce and really a great tune to start out the CD.

While listening through the album I could not help but think how some of the guitar riffs seemed recycled at times but it is nothing to get discouraged over. The mixture of hardcore and punk proved a nice element to the entire album. The crew vocals really made some of the songs more powerful, especially in “Break Through It All” and “See It Through”. “Infected” was another track that was nice and intense, kind of made me want to throw down at times.

Amusingly the final track is a cover/parody of Cock Sparer’s “England Belongs To Me” simply titled “Boston Belongs To Me”. A little messy from the original version, I can sense the fun that this hard working band had when recording it. The track was also my favorite track to listen to on this thirteen track disc.

Hardcore may not be what all the kids are into today but by no means is hardcore a dead style of music. In fact, I think it’s a good thing that hardcore has not become terribly mainstream like punk and hip hop have. Death Before Dishonor has no trouble cranking out hard heavy music perfect for any hardcore junkie out there. It’s nice to see bands continue to carry the hardcore torch and keep the trend alive. Death Before Dishonor is no exception. Count Me In is a perfect definition of what hardcore should sound like.