A Review by The Phantom Tollbooth

Private Conflicts And Suicides
Artist: Society's Finest
Label: Pluto Records
Length: 5 tracks/18:43 minutes

If you are looking for some new metalcore, then this is your band. Everything about this band screams Professional: the blue lighted liner notes, the tight musicianship, and the excellent production by Barry Poynter. Oh, and the songs are good too. With a sound similar to Zao's Where Blood... album, Society's Finest's hybrid of metal/hardcore brings in the screamed, shouted vocals, the hardcore crunch and thick metal riffs, with the occasional spoken word piece and off-kilter guitar riff. Songs like "Eggshell" showcase the band's lyrical proficiency with lines like:

I can see the white ash falling from your tongue as you curse me and the deception of your child like behavior burns words into my fragile mind pull me down into your own private hell so I can understand.

If this album has one flaw, it's that it sounds a little bit too much like Zao's new musical direction. But that's not entirely a bad thing, for the band really hits the mark with this EP. Intense, explosive, loud, and well produced, this is everything a metalcore album is supposed to be. Here's hoping the band keeps at it and continues to release solid material.

Joe Rockstroh (6/23/99)