The Ultimate Review of Newborn

Even in their infant stage, Young and In the Way were a shining example of unhinged badassery. While this may not be anywhere near as essential as some of their later releases (seriously, if you haven’t heard their album that dropped this year, I strongly urge you to scratch whatever plans you have and check the full album stream on Youtube immediately), this is pretty damn impressive for a small first release. Coming in at 13 minutes, this gives a good idea of what they are about without overstaying their welcome.

While they would go on to showcase more of their more brooding side on later releases, this one is a rager through and through. It comes to steamroll you with bludgeoning riffs and a blistering hardcore attitude and thoroughly succeeds. While black metal would gradually come to take over most of their sound, this is predominantly a crust release. Sure some seeds are planted for the future, but this shows the band’s punk side in full swing.

One of the best things about this is how good they are with dynamics. This features a wide array of tempos, from frenzied blitzkriegs to sludgy crawls. There’s a good mix of styles in the riffing. Although nothing is overtly black metal, there are definitely a few nods to the genre. Often the most interesting parts is where they seemingly pull something out of the blue – the groove-laden sludge dirge in “Vincent Van Gone” makes the song and the somewhat uplifting major key riffing of the title track is a nice little twist. While the playing is actually pretty tight, this still has a sweaty, loose feel and much of this has to do with the raw recording quality. This ain’t a bad thing – this pretty much feels like being at a basement crust show with a cheap beer in hand and a foul smell in the air.

Overall, this is a dope rudimentary first release. While perhaps not entirely indicative of what’s to come, parallels can definitely be drawn between the riffs on this recording and the ones on their most recent album. This is their crust side on full display – the side of their sound that lends to the brutality often present in the mix. This is a quick scorcher with some very memorable riffs (although some are definitely better than others) and no shortage of testosterone. While obviously not a good place to start, this is definitely worth checking out for fans of the band who may not have gotten around to the early material yet.
Final Score: 23 / 100