[4/5]
With The Great Awake, Toronto's Flatliners announce they aren't going to settle for conquering Canada. Their goal is world domination-or at least a late-day, main stage spot on the Warped Tour-and the battle plan is a decidedly old-school one. As much as you'll hear Pantera-strength metal shrapnel in tracks like "KHTDR," the band basically work in two genres. The bulk of the disc is saliva-frothed, all-droogs-on-deck hardcore, the best thing about bruisers like "This Is Giving Up" is that they don't sacrifice melody in the name of bloody-knuckled aggression. When the Flatliners aren't setting the amps for "annihilate," they prove themselves scarily adept at distortion-jacked white reggae. They may come from the land of doughnuts, maple syrup and igloos, but goddamn if they don't sound like they'd be more at home doing bong hits with Stiff Little Fingers and Sublime on the sun-splashed shores of Jamaica. (FAT WRECK CHORDS) Mike Usinger
 Official Website: http://www.fatwreck.com
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