Risk (not by me)

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach for another is to risk involvement.
To expose your ideas, your dreams,
before a crowd is to risk their loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To believe is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken, because the
greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The people who risk nothing, do nothing,
have nothing, are nothing.
They may avoid suffering and sorrow,
but they cannot learn, feel, change,
grow, love, live.
Chained by their attitudes they are slaves;
they have forfeited their freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.

EP Review

BTRL - Beat The Red Light

What do you get when you combine metal riffs, pounding drums, screams, shouts, and hardcore breakdowns, with ska.... then throw in a horn section for good measure? BTRL the self titled 5 track EP by High Wycombes Skacore outfit Beat The Red Light certainly sounds close. They combine all the best elements of Hardcore Punk, Metal and Ska, without sounding to similar to other bands of the genre. While the EP is only 5 tracks long, it certainly packs a fucking hard punch with enough force to make you listen again......and again...... and again.

Each track stands out as a fucking masterpiece of hooks, melodies, and fucking raw agressive energy, a perfect example being the opening track Never A Dull Moment. With clever lyrics talking a variety of subjects such as equality, human nature, wannabies, and greed (to name but a few) being sung and screamed over a mixture of punk, ska and beatdowns, i would find it hard to understand anybody disliking it. I certainly have no problem saying this EP and the band themselves are one of the freshest things i've heard in sometime, not just another mediocre skacore band trying to sound, at best, exactly like capdown or leftover crack. Beat The Red Light have a sound that is definatly of the Skacore nature, but there is no doubt there is something of their own in the music, which is always refreshing to hear and puts them above the ranks of mediocre generic copycat bands.

My advice to you is regardless of your musical bias, go check this band out live, buy the CD and have your mind fucking blown.

http://www.myspace.com/beattheredlight

Matt Parody