AWOL – Tear Em’ To Bits | Album Review

Fierce, emotive and groovy is everything you want a hardcore album to be. AWOL are here to deliver just that with their debut album, Tear Em' To Bits.

Riding on the wave of talent emerging from an exciting scene, AWOL asserted their dominance following the strict lockdown in Melbourne. Making music as a necessity to escape the harrows of the pandemic, their 2021 self-titled EP cemented their relevance with the growing scene, leading them to tour amongst the big dogs of Australian hardcore. Debut album, Tear Em’ To Bits continues the blunt force aggression, yet feels more refined and mature. The earlier hardcore influences of Madball and Biohazard persist but with an infusion of modernity and heaviness, that allows them to sit amongst current powerhouses Speed and God’s Hate. The record checks off the key features and places great emphasis on unity and creating a record that the community around them enjoy and can get behind. 

Aside from the gentle acoustic strings in the opening track, ‘LEJOS DE DIOS’, Tear Em’ To Bits does not let up from delivering straight up, no frills hardcore. As opening track effortless leads in ‘AWOL’, you are launched into a wall of boisterous barks and groovy riffwork. This carries into the furious title track and the barrage is continued with a thundering of drums and face-smacking breakdown in ‘Who You Were’. The unifying backing calls repeating “we win, you lose” in the title track make up for the lack of quintessential band name call outs, nodding towards the appreciation of their community. 

While this record is an unstoppable tyrant of punishing hardcore, it also grapples with important themes that should be on everyone’s lips. Of course, it is not unheard of that a hardcore band tackles issues that burden their community and this feature will no doubt continue into the future. But, AWOL’s approach is refreshing and precisely reflects the mindset of those around them. Notably, ‘Kingdom’, concerning police brutality, mirrors the anger we should all feel and delivers the unsugarcoated, poignant lines, “You took a son from his mother, now she lays him to rest. Pleased with God, when will she see her boy again?”. ‘Fall From Grace’ is not only crushing musically, but the gruffly delivered lyrics that deal with substance abuse produce another layer of rawness, one that is likely to carry through into their performances and the energy on the floor.

AWOL have certainly hit the ground running in their musical career. To have amassed a decent following and attention in a relatively short amount of time is testament to the raw talent and prowess of this band. Fitting nicely within the sphere of hardcore at the moment and indeed their local scene, Tear Em’ To Bits sets them on a good trajectory for future material. It’s always a joy to witness smaller bands evolve and gain notoriety as they progress and AWOL have set solid foundations for a promising future.