Escalate- The Cry Of Nature EP Review

Back with a follow-up EP to their debut album on legendary SoCal label New Age Records, vegan straight edge bandits Escalate have once again brought the hammer down on the global straight edge scene. Their new EP The Cry of Nature, shows no let-up in their mission for a vegan revolution, five tracks of absolute carnage.

The title track hits like a sharp spin kick to the jaw. Raw, impactful rage backed by buzzsaw guitar and bass, while the drums mimic the rhythm of boots marching off to war — the doom of mankind, perhaps? That tension breaks into hard, rhythmic snare blows as vocalist Laszlo Meszaros savagely barks reminders of humanity’s greed and its destruction of the beautiful in pursuit of excess.

The assault continues with the second track, The End Of War. The breakdown is savage “Only the dead have seen the end of war.” Those lyrics, paired with the relentless attack of the guitar and bass, evoke images of pure aggression in any venue Escalate step into.

“1080” a clear nod to label mates and youth crew legends Turning Point, comes in heavy, with an intro that feels like the musical equivalent of rolling thunder. Lyrically, it hits just as hard, condemning the short-sighted destruction of our planet in the name of greed and power. It plays like a declaration of war from the Earth itself — a warning that humanity will pay for its sins against it.

The final track Vegan Warpath conjures images of the Earth rising: cages flying open, animals flooding back into the wild, while vegans across the world take to the streets screaming, “VEGAN WARPATH, UNTIL THE END.” It’s a powerful close to a hard-as-rocks EP. If I wasn’t already vegan, I most certainly would be after this 11-minute onslaught.