Southpaw FLHC is a beatdown hardcore band from Jacksonville, Florida consisting of guitarist Alan King, bassist Marc Laroche, drummer Harrison Linder & frontman Daryn LaMontagne. Dropping off their eponymous debut extended play at the very beginning of 2021 in hopes of bridging the gap between hardcore’s past & present, they would go on to drop a couple singles afterwards only to spend a majority of the decade inactive musically until this full-length studio debut of theirs to conclude July.

“Rolling Stone” begins with a beatdown hardcore intro remembering Daryn’s late grandfather who served in Vietnam whereas “Run Game” angrily lashes out at those they taught to smooth talk & not everyone keep it real in the music industry. “T.T.G. (Trained to Go)” makes it clear they don’t give a fuck what it takes or bout the laws & the rules created but once “Nail in the Coffin” pleads for the chains bounding them from their destiny to be broken, “The Gavel” puts us inside shoes of a judge to conclude the 1st half.

Meanwhile on “Torches”, we have Daryn & company hitting us with more mediocre beatdown hardcore dedicated to those in the streets who lit the way for them while “The Path” featuring an Eric Ellis guitar solo near the final 30 seconds delivers an ode to the bold & the brave. “Play the Fool” comes through with an ironic jab at “pussy motherfuckers ain’t who they claiming to be” & once the title track talking about true power standing in our truths, “D.T.W.D. (Duvall ‘Till We Die)” concluded with a love letter to the county that made them.

For these guys to call their debut album The Standard for beatdown hardcore is pretty arrogant considering Knocked Loose & Hatebreed considering a great deal of this album to me lacks innovation & the other 2 bands I mentioned doing that style of hardcore punk. Harrison Linder sporting apparel from the neo-Nazi associated clothing brand Curb Stomp & reposting a couple far-righters on their Instagram after their “apology” video only adds insult to injury, to which I think the punk rock scene shouldn’t let fly considering they’ve always stood on rebelling against authoritarianism & bigotry.

Score: 0.5/5

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