True Temper - Lost Soul
True Temper sure picked the right name for their band, because this shit’s really fucken angry.
EP REVIEW
Lost Soul
True Temper (beatdown hardcore)
2026 Jan. 17
3 tracks
7:34
Independent release
True Temper sure picked the right name for their band, because this shit’s really fucken angry.
Their 2017 EP Choke Chain was on constant rotation when I was in my first year or so of university. I can still remember listening to the beginning of “Fading Fast” while walking to class. Choke Chain might’ve been what first turned me onto that combination of downtuned guitars and atonal vocals from death metal with tough guy riffs and punkier – dare I say even hip-hoppier – drums from hardcore. Nowadays, a lot of my favourite bands – No Cure, Simulakra, Bashed In, World of Malice – exist firmly within that aforementioned combination. It’s become one of my favourite subgenres of all extreme music. Now, these OGs are back with another pulverizing EP, Lost Soul.
True Temper keeps it focused on Lost Soul with 3 tracks of unrelenting aggression. The chaotic, collage-ish cover art gives the impression of grindcore grossness – knives, guns, weed, teeth, and big-ass trucks. Men only want one thing and it's this. And the production on Lost Souls is certainly a step up from Choke Chain, with scooped, crunchy guitars and a boomy low end.
Opening track “Slab” throws us right into the grinder with a 2-step beat built to break teeth, devolving into pure beatdown bliss before the breakdown at 1:41 tells you its elbow-throwing time. With the titular track “Lost Soul” and closer “Portrait of Guilt,” we’re right in the middle of True Temper’s formula: alternating between crawling, menacing hardcore riffs and even harder, slower beatdown sections. What’s not to love? You’re always at the good part. It’s just one mean mug after another. No time for smiles on this one. Lost Soul will have you hittin’ that stank face from beginning to end.
8/10
