Have you ever listened to Canadian folk music and felt it could be way darker and use more heavy mosh riffs? Truck Violence is a Montreal-based band that mixes hardcore music with the emotion and instrumentation of traditional Canadian folk music into a style of depressive violence filled with raw emotion and authenticity that exemplifies what hardcore music is missing. Their song “The Gash” exemplifies this through a tale of addiction and abuse told through a style of music that really makes you feel the pain.
The track starts with a spoken-word-style vocal over a harsh buzz and a bassline that sets up an atmosphere of tragedy. Guitar and drums come in for a heavy yet low-tempo sound reminiscent of the darkness of doom metal. The track later turns into a crowd-kill-worthy metallic hardcore and, at times, an emo-violence-inspired style riff with harsh feedback. The depressing yet violent sound of the track has a similar feel to bands such as Love Lost But Not Forgotten and SeeYouSpaceCowboy’s track “Late December.”
The vocals are primarily shouted with a harsh, raw emotion that leads to times when the words feel more spoken, as if the songwriter has, in a way, given up on anger and has fallen deeper into despair. This is evident especially around the 3-minute mark, when the vocalist asks the question, “Is anything ever enough?”
At this moment, the song begins to introduce pure elements of folk music with a traditional acoustic style, plucking strings, and soft drums under spoken-word vocals that almost cry out in an intense sense of pain. The song once again gets heavy, with the metalcore riffs reentering over screams of raw agony and despair. The chugging guitar riffs pause for moments of harsh feedback that make you feel a sense of discomfort before the track ends with harsh feedback and noise.
Overall, I would highly recommend this track to fans of hardcore and metalcore music who want something a bit different from the usual styles of tough-guy beatdown or feminine emo metalcore twinks. Instead, they want something in the middle with harsh, raw emotion that feels intense and violent without in any way feeling whiny or inauthentic. The song never oversteps boundaries and perfectly captures an atmosphere without going too far. You can find this track, as well as the band’s entire album Violence, HERE!
Written by Naomi Niemiec
