Even before you hear note one, you get the feeling, or blindly hope, that there’s something special about this Quebecois outfit. The packaging is beautiful, heavy black stock with the art work and text’s flat coppery ink blending into the matte paper; the baleful visage of a goat’s head rests in stark relief on the front cover. The inner booklet is a faux hymnal, complete with icons, music staff and lyrics that exhibit a slyly wiseass and informed world view when not indulging in hearty bouts of blasphemy; Christianity is up for grabs and the victor gets to wipe the slate clean. If only black metal bands had the same subversive sense of humor.

All this and more brought forth by the brothers Amore: Alexis, Gil, Kevin, Mat and Olivier. Funny, they don’t look alike. Must’ve had different fathers. Packaging, wit, and subversion, check. But what of the music? Mi Amore doesn’t disappoint.

The first track starts off pleasantly enough. An ungainly little hardcore blaze that’ll have you scrambling for that tattered leather jacket festooned with spikes and GBH and Discharge patches. But Mi Amore is no mere one trick hardcore pony, no siree Bob. From then on it’s a cleverly woven tapestry of hardcore aggression interspersed with monolithic rhythms ala the death and roll aesthetics of Entombed; welcome snatches of melodic intrusion and dirty riffing that wades and then splashes into stoner rock territory provide added levels of complexity.

And then, just for the sheer perversity of it all, they throw in some up front bass lines ripped off from Joy Division or, lately, Interpol to temper the battering with catchy pop inflected bits of sunshine. The anchor, what keeps them firmly in the hardcore realm is the gymnastic roar of microphone wielder Gil. He’s the Looney Tunes Tazmanian Devil brought to life, all larynx damaging growls, snarls and foamy mouth.

Like Cursed, Mi Amore is not so much redefining hardcore as presenting it with an altered face. Keeping the basic tenets intact – social awareness, questioning authority and accepted mores – while incorporating a big rock element that would have been unthinkable in times past. You can shout, stomp and writhe with abandon all you want. No reason you can’t add some dynamics to the proceedings and rock the fucking house down at the same time. (7/10)