Beauty To Ashes Reproduce The Common Practice Review

Beauty To Ashes "Reproduce The Common Practice" 
In 2002, I was delighted to see that one of the best bands in Southern California had finally inked a deal to release their first record. Of course, the band had done a few things on the independent tip, but they finally put out a full length and I was excited to see them grow. The band was Beauty To Ashes. The record was titled “Reproduce The Common Practice” and it blew the doors down on the hardcore scene, for about a few weeks. What happened to the band? Well, like a lot of other hardcore bands, money, family, and reality hit them hard. Not only that, this record is only 21 minutes long, which means that the band didn’t exactly put on the best showing.

The songs on “Reproduce The Common Practice” are a far cry from the initial EP that they put out. However, they were able to harness some of their best studio work and create a good overall sound. “Bystandards of a Lifestyle Obsession” for instance, is a definitive showcase of how amazing the band’s overall power was. They could turn subject matter into compelling arguments, they could turn riffs into strong powerful moments of hardcore and metal fused into a comfortable pop noise. They found a way to push the boundaries of the sound with a lot of tech, and lots of emotion.

Then there are moments on the record that aren’t so grand. It seems like it’s two different bands, and that’s the thing about this record. The band put a “best of” their studio recordings into this, and it wasn’t all the same production value. What should’ve been an EP turned into a full length, and something that doesn’t have the gusto that you’d expect from a full length record. That being said, this isn’t a bad one. It’s a solid release that focuses on a spiritual side that you already know was happening in the southern California hardcore scene. Beauty To Ashes has to be one of the best bands I saw live, and yet they did nothing more than go out with a whimper. Like many other bands in the scene, one solid EP and an exciting opening full length isn’t enough to sustain a career. I still love this record, and recommend it, for the lights of glory that come through on several of the tracks.

If you want to pick up a solid metallic hardcore record with pop sensibilities, “Reproduce The Common Practice” isn’t half bad. You can get it here.

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