It’s been more than a decade since KILLING TIME released The Method, and a hard-to-believe 21 years since their classic Brightside. Although the band took on a less prominent role in NYHC in the 2000s, they never totally disappeared from the scene, and their name could be found periodically on some of the city’s biggest hardcore shows. Somewhere along the way, the idea to do a new record percolated after a brief, but successful trip to Asia in 2007, and by early 2008, the band was working on new material. A studio trip in the summer of 2008 put Three Steps Back into memory. Eighteen months later, the record has finally seen its release via Gore-Tex/Dead City Records.

Not only was it worth the wait, but KILLING TIME instantly bring back the quick, spitfire gruff ball of fury that made Brightside such an important NYHC record. With 12 songs in a very fast moving 28 minutes, Three Steps Back shifts into drive and doesn’t let up. There’s metal in KILLING TIME’s iteration of hardcore, but it’s not metalcore or even metallic hardcore. It’s the difference in sound between hardcore before and after HATEBREED’s groundbreaking Satisfaction Is The Death of Desire (notably, the hard to miss street-punk element that still runs through the veins of neighbors SICK OF IT ALL and AGNOSTIC FRONT). Anthony Comunale’s thick-mouthed vocals are classic Brooklyn/Queens NY attitude, while drummer Anthony Drago gets the circle-pit action going on early and often, especially with the charged opener “Flight Plan.” “24″ is a rip-roaring catchy blast of speed that reminds me a ton of KILL YOUR IDOLS (should that be the other way around?), while the power-pack of “Inheritance” and “Half-Empty” deliver a whirlwind of meaty guitar riffs and red-lunged gang vocals. Towards the end, “Crouch” delivers a floor-quaking breakdown, while “Lookout” bobs and churns like something from the RANCID S/T 2000 record.

Moreso than before, The Method now seems to be the odd release out in the band’s discography (which pre-dates to their earliest moments as RAW DEAL, itself an offshoot of the legendary BREAKDOWN). I’m not sure why I’m surprised that KILLING TIME so easily found its groove back, but Three Steps Back reminds me a lot of LIFETIME’s comeback S/T record… an unexpected gift for longtime fans that naturally brings the band into the present while illuminating the iconic elements of their past.

Killing Time