Brick by Brick are a band of brothers who bleed New York and are ready for the rumored head on collision. They are saying what we all are feeling on this new album they’ve titled Collapse: if you force your crusade past their borders, they will knock you on your ass.
Starting with track one, “Ready For War,” which breaks out with a series of anxiety-fueling headlines, emulating the utter madness that has become of our society. It then meets the ultimate Jedi mind trick of Noir in the most New York mafia black heart riot stance. Ray breaks through with decapitating aggression and makes you fully aware of what he knows to be the signs of the end and how it absolutely won’t phase him. You can hear all the classic percussion of sinister hardcore explosions between riffs that accent like bullets through windows. The song ends in such a way that it makes me want to watch the movie Blood Simple on repeat.
Track two, “Crown of Rust,” opens up with the most epic Masashi Kishimoto quote and then becomes the burial chant of grizzled and exhausted humor: vivid one-liners. Ray’s voice on this track takes me to a place where I can settle into facts about men who have worked to survive and survive on strict lines drawn in the concrete.
The third track, “Collapse,” I’m going to define very mysteriously for the simple purpose of your interpretation, and this comes from a place of strict gratitude. We are a country that was very tolerant and very much willing to walk in the same accord about humanity for a long enough time that this enormous burst of pent up political aggression feels more like a plague than it feels like a political corral. This third track provides all the resources you need for emotional stability when things become very bleak.
Fourth track is a classic seance romance with the 90’s, and the true heart of metal. A cover of Rob Zombies, Thunder Kiss 65. It will make you wish the sky would just turn red and the demons would rise up.
Music is medicine, and medicine should be seen as something that helps us control fires. Fire is necessary, aggression is necessary, and the choice of being in darkness and fighting an enemy on their turf should be an obligatory option for all of us. It’s always great to know the best music to fight to, in the most zen of states.
Collapse was released on April 25, 2025, and is available to order here.
