1point3 is an American band that was formed in 1998 and released their debut album in 2005. Broken Arms Race is the bands second album and was released this year.

The band seem to have their roots in the hardcore and noise rock scenes so prevalent in America and album opener Mask of the Wolf literally bursts out of the speakers like a blast of thunder before settling down into a kickass, insanely heavy groove with all three members going completely mental. Still, however heavy and noisy the band get, they never forget the importance of the groove. There are plenty of memorable grooves on Broken Arms Race and that is what saves this album from being just a complete noise fest. Case in point is the awesome Cloud of Locust which would have been one of those ridiculously heavy songs that just rushes past you in a blur if not for the fact that it’s stuffed full of awesome grooves. This is also probably the most Mastodon-like song on the album.

Stand out tracks include the aforementioned Cloud of Locust, title song Broken Arms Race which sounds like Bloodlet jamming with Today is the Day and is quite insane, the completely manic Drunkohol and album closer and easily the heaviest most aggressive song on the album The Red Scare which brings things to a close in terrific fashion. While comparisons to Mastodon seem almost inevitable the music on Broken Arms Race has a bit more in common with bands like Today is the Day, Unsane and even the raw dirty post hardcore sound of Crisis and Bloodlet. The band play loud dirty and abrasive rock n roll which at times gets ridiculously heavy and when they add a smattering of dissonant off-time Melvins style chug it’s just the icing on the cake.

The songs are all short and to the point and come out all guns blazing and perfectly for bands of this style, it’s all over before you get bored of the constant barrage. At nine songs and just over thirty minutes long, Broken Arms Race is the perfect length. There is no filler material, no boring moments and the songs kick ass. At the same time there’s very little in the way of variation and/ or progression. This is heavy as fuck, aggressive music that sounds like it was written to be the soundtrack to a free for all bare knuckle bust-up.



Label -  Nice Life Records
Year of Release - 2008