Hardcore is more than just a genre; it’s an ethos, a way of life, and nobody embodies that right now like Australian quintet Speed.
Speed are at the forefront of a wave of bands who live by hardcore’s tenets and deliver no-frills extremity, and they managed that without even releasing a debut album. With EPs including 2022’s Gang Called Speed, they almost immediately garnered a sizeable following and packed out tours and festival stages, including Outbreak in the UK – not bad for a band a 24-hour flight from home. But now that debut, ONLY ONE MODE, has landed and it deserves the all-caps it and all its song titles are stylised with. A bruising, no-bullshit assault on the senses, this is hardcore in its purest form and one of the best albums to come out of it in some time.
The title also neatly encapsulates not just its contents but Speed’s entire ethos; go as hard as possible, all the time. And when all ten of its songs together don’t even hit the 30 minute mark, you can very easily get away with doing just that – maximum impact in the shortest time possible. Opener ‘REAL LIFE LOVE’ has the kind of smack-your-face-off opening riff many bands can only dream of, a call to arms and pit violence that kicks into full gear with vocalist Jem Siow roaring – what else – the band’s name. It’s in and out in 3 minutes, ‘DON’T NEED’ following without so much as a pause for breath.
ONLY ONE MODE is also a teensy bit of a lie; lyrically, it’s very diverse, with Siow tackling themes from his experiences being marginalised as an Asian-American on ‘ONLY FOES…’ but also pays tribute to a friend that took their own life with ‘KILL CAP’. Macho hardcore this ain’t – at least, not always. Naturally they do talk a lot about hardcore, but it’s done with so much conviction and heart it’s hard to argue with them. Speed have grown from the hardcore scene and this is their tribute to a scene and genre that’s shaped their lives immeasurably.
There’s also a few musical surprises, most notably on the huge ‘THE FIRST TEST’ which features that flute solo partway through courtesy of Jem Siow that, because of the sheer charisma the man exudes even when you can’t see him, slots in easily. It’s also just so fucking cool that it makes the whole song even harder. There’s not much more to be said about ONLY ONE MODE that it doesn’t say better itself in 24 minutes. Love hardcore? You’ll love this. Speed might be a “hype band”, for whatever that’s worth in hardcore, but they back it up with self-belief, love and reverence for the scene, its ethos, and more fight riffs than you can shake a flute at. Don’t miss out.