A literal representative of the maxim "Hardcore is dead, long live hardcore" has arisen with pseudo-newcomer Advent. Out of the ashes of the defunct Beloved, comes the North Carolina five-piece with what might be considered a metamorphosis of what Beloved started. Remove The Earth is a super hard groove-driven head knocker sans compromise, and delivered without deviation from the typical formula. Hence, "Hardcore is dead, long live hardcore." Each time the scene seems full to the brim, with no more room for another similar act, a band manages to emerge that does the same job everyone else is doing, but they do it well enough to stand out.

By no means is Advent breaking barriers or pushing limits. But that's not to say they're spitting into the wind either. Remove The Earth has a lot to offer. Guitar-work smokes on the album, and brains will definitely be thrashed against the insides of skulls, to say the least. What they do, they do right, and the appealing hardness, solid grooves, and overall slam-factor put these guys in the category of best hardcore album of the year, even this early on.

Highlights include, but are not limited to, "Eulogy," a three minute thrasher with a jarring breakdown, "Blackout," the album opener which blisters from start to finish, and "Hanging The Giants." Advent really has some exemplary breakdowns.

What sets them apart from most other acts out there is difficult to say succinctly, you have to hear for yourself. Sometimes a band just grasps what hardcore is about and understands what they're trying to do as an ensemble, and they do it effortlessly. Other times, there is a heavy-handedness to the music, like a forced intent to make it sound hardcore instead of for it to just be hardcore in its essence. Advent simply has that musical instinct, and in a way, the musical humility to simply be what they are without trying to push to be more. Remove The Earth is a collection of hardcore songs. I hesitate to say 'album' because the songs don't have that start-to-finish closure an album usually has. They are all pretty much the same as far as length, content, intensity and composition. If the record has one major weakness, it lies in its lack of flow.

Other than that, the real achievement I'd like to see a band like this have for them is to stick around for more than three records. The scene is notorious for bands coalescing, succeeding and then breaking off into side projects. Advent is well worth a listen, in fact, if you consider yourself a fan of this kind of music, you'd be doing yourself a disservice to ignore Remove The Earth.

- Review date: 2/11/08, written by Sean Lex