This is the new band of Mad Joe Black from Boxcutter/Krutch fame. For those not familiar with Boxcutter, they were some of New Jersey’s hardest, playing a mix of Hardcore and Hip-hop that would become known as Thugcore as other bands such as Fury of Five popularized the style. Looking at pictures of these dudes on their old website; they’re all like 8 feet tall crazy looking motherfuckers who look like they’d be just as much at home on the yard as they’d be anywhere else, but anyways, back to Wisdom in Chains. The WIC record is one of the freshest sounding releases to come out lately. While the lyrics deal with familiar themes, the best way to describe the music is hardcore influenced Oi (not the other way around) that is really catchy and gets stuck in your head very easily. “Snakes” is a great fuck you song to the behind the back shit talkers that everyone has to deal with at one point or another. “Vigilante Saint” is a tune about street justice and taking revenge into your own hands, not relying on anyone else to handle your own business.

Mad Joe Black has a very distinct voice with a good tone that goes well with the music. These songs really get your adrenaline going as soon as the needle hits the record; they’d make a great soundtrack to an out of control brawl. The only part of this record that sucked was the Black Sabbath cover which they unfortunately butchered. It would have been great to see one or two more originals rather than an uninspired cover song. These dudes recently played “This is Hardcore” fest in Philadelphia, hopefully they’ll be planning a full U.S. tour soon.

- CHARLIE S