Locked Inside – New York Straight Edge Unleashed

Locked Inside shares a New York hardcore song “Force Of Will” straight from isolation. NYHC fans who love the aggressive tinged, classic New York straight edge will delight in this two minute blast. Even though I am the long haired kid that didn’t fit nicely among my varsity jacket friends, the music still resonates for me. Despite my lack of being in the loop and the years that pass. Locked Inside bring it. I’ll probably feature them properly soon, but for now, listen here https://lockedinside.bandcamp.com/track/force-of-will

Locked Inside features Ed McKirdy on vocals. I’m familiar with his playing in Hands Tied, Mouthpiece and other tri-state area bands. Vinny Panza (Bold / Youth of Today / Vinny and the Hooligans) plays drums. Gerardo Villalobos (Nueva Etica) is on Bass. Carlos Gutierrez (from Return) plays Guitar.
Hugo Fitzgerald (from On The Rise) plays Guitar.

Locked Inside’s Force Of Will is like the aspects of New York City, it’s straight-up, direct, no fluff. The opening riffs feel very mosh-able. Hard and heavy, moshing. As the song goes on, the tempo changes from faster mosh parts, mid tempo, back to fast. The guitars play well off each other with a subtle bit of melody (1:44 ish). This melody doesn’t overpower the vocals and rhythm though. Rhythm section is on point for “Force Of Will”.

The delivery of Ed’s vocals on this track remind me of Mike Judge and halfway through starts to feel akin to Springa from the mighty SSD. Not carbon copy per se but in the same ballpark. Judge and Springa are very distinct vocalists, but those two came to mind originally.

A quick 2 minutes and 21 seconds of in your face hardcore.

Force Of Will does sound angry and aggressive but honestly if it didn’t, I wouldn’t want to listen to it as much. Very few can pull off melodic and angry hardcore anyway. Locked Inside focuses on the angst and aggression that has lead many of us to hardcore in the first place.

In conclusion, a hardcore song in this vein in 2020 is quite impressive. For me, it’s not as easy as it looks to write riffs and parts that haven’t been done, yet still deliver the goods that make kids want to sing along and jump off stages. In fact, I’d leave it to these guys and the other bands doing just that. Until then I’ll be watching from afar for more on this band.

– Meatus