Review by Mandeep Arora on August 4, 2024.

Hard Times Hangin' At The End Of The World is the most amazing thrash metal album you'll never probably listen to. You see, Children is such an obscure band, there's barely anything known about their current whereabouts or if they'll ever make a return to music. Even if they do, I doubt it's going to be a triumphant one because barely anyone knows about or listens to this band. There's scarce information even on this album, their only release, which is a shame considering how stellar and fresh it comes across in its execution. Progressive thrash metal? Haven't heard of many bands playing this style of thrash except for Vektor, who I absolutely adore, and Voivod, who I haven't explored much of but definitely intrigued to do so.

It's a modern take on good ol' thrash metal and eschews the raw aggression synonymous with the genre in favor of a more joyous and exuberant sound. If we disregard the little instrumental title track, which is a spacey Spanish guitar number that reminds me a bit of Opeth towards its end, the songs are actually pretty long; the shortest one being well over five minutes while the longest ones inhabit the ten-minute mark. Not that old-school thrash has not had long compositions before but that would usually be one track in an album of eight to ten. This time, we have just six tracks to play around with, spread over not-exactly-measly 42 minutes, so there's less filler and much more room for every individual song to flow and breathe supply. The longer a section goes, the better it develops and the more rewarding it gets to wait for the next.

More or less, the tempo remains constant across the album but the songs are pretty distinguishable in their own right. It's progressive all right, not in the wake of, let's say, an Opeth or a Porcupine Tree but the songs are dynamic enough to not sound humdrum or repetitive. The way that the ten-minute opener Advanced Mind Control keeps changing direction, especially its elongated intro with its varying melodies one-upping the other, is definitely a lot of fun. It's a very guitar-driven sound, lead, and rhythm, and you constantly hear one riff after another, grander in scale than the previous; there's not much in the way of acoustic passages or keyboards to amplify or add any distinct effect but it does not matter. They stretch the instrumental sections to show off their skills and you bear witness to a bevy of super-solid and spectacular riffs taking charge while a strong torrent of melodies simmers underneath, waiting to erupt and mingle with the riffs, then everything surging together to impart an explosive and seemingly unstoppable effect. This feeling is best captured in the final four minutes of Time Is the Living, a truly fantastic progressive thrash metal song that barely slows down and emanates a lot of energy as a result. You keep guessing what's coming next and every turn leaves you awestruck and ecstatic. Even if there's a lot to process and unpack, everything seamlessly falls in place like the flush-fitting pieces of a good quality puzzle and in spite of a structure that's ever-changing, the music's not very difficult to get into. You can establish this as a pretty good record within the first few listens - I was personally floored the first time itself considering this was a new and totally unknown band to me at the time.

Chunky thrash metal riffs abound and modern production values make it a very interesting and unique album to behold - the guitars roar, the vocals scream, the drums pound... There's a tinge of old-school thrash like Overkill and Exodus in some of the riffs but that's balanced by modern and fresher stuff. Nuclear Bummer’s intro has some uncanny resemblances to Metallica’s Spit Out the Bone, though the latter came out much later so was it the mighty Metallica that took to Children for inspiration? Would surely be interesting if they did. The vocals are unrefined and rather perfunctory, not really my favorite aspect, but they recall Tom Araya’s forbidding screams at times and add an odd charm to the album's character as deliberately not being too polished or uptight. That's also the vibe this album emanates - of some really close friends, metalheads to the core, not taking themselves too seriously and going all out to make fantastic music they are passionate about. At least that's the impression I got after, surprisingly, finding they have a rather wacky and hilarious music video for Power Spirit on YouTube. After some careful searching later on I was able to locate both Adam Bennati and Skyler Spohn on Instagram, seemingly content with their current lives and having left these Children days long behind. It honestly kind of makes me sad to learn there may never be a follow-up album but good for them both to be doing good in their lives.

Hard Times Hangin' At The End Of The World does not and apparently never will get the recognition it deserves, sadly, but it's one of the best one-off albums you will ever listen to. A truly fantastic debut from a fairly new band with barely any back catalog to fall back on. They took the best elements from old-school thrash and blended it with their own style to create a sound that can appease both old-school fans and bring in new ones like myself. In fact, it's on par with some thrash metal classics that, in my opinion, are kind of overrated. I'll not go around naming those bands or albums though. I doubt it's available in a physical format anymore but surprisingly, remains ubiquitous on all the major streaming platforms like Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube Music. That it exists there in all its glory is very heartening to witness and I'd urge everyone reading this to give it a chance while you still can. You'll not be disappointed I swear.

Rating: 9 out of 10