Here I sit, thirty-two years young, and finally, a band has gone and done it. Los Angeles’s Twitching Tongues has boiled down seemingly every brilliant, heavy influence from my youth—Type O Negative, Pantera/Down, Only Living Witness, Crowbar, Life Of Agony, Cro-Mags, Machine Head, Sheer Terror—into one incredibly sincere, pained, and immeasurably weighty full-length record. Understandably, Twitching Tongues is positioned within the current hardcore crop—members claim(ed) spots in Nails, Disgrace, Creatures, Ruckus, and other notables—but the depth of this band goes well beyond the hardcore formula. Musically, there’s a maturity here rarely seen in hardcore circles. The consistent, seamless shifts in tempo and dynamics are masterful (conjuring River Runs Red or Bloody Kisses) and the playing itself is dead-on. That said, the highlight here is vocalist Colin Young. Young’s softer sections offer a genuine sadness similar to Mina (née Keith) Caputo or “Hollow”-style Philip Anselmo, while his roars (often still melodic) hearken back to a young Robb Flynn or Kirk Windstein. Needless to say, these are some legendary shoes to fill; yet Young seems to wear them quite comfortably. I’m not going to attempt to make any deep lyrical analysis here, but know that this is a soul-bearing record that speaks candidly of Young’s darkest memories, often with dark, religious overtones (which I was predictably drawn to). It’s venomous, painful, and often chilling in its intimacy. Twitching Tongues’ first LP, Sleep Therapy, was great, excellent even, but I use no hyperbole when I say that In Love There Is No Law is a high point of the hardcore scene (perhaps matched only by releases from Starkweather, Between Earth & Sky, and Ringworm) in the past decade. Absolutely incredible.
–Dave William (Closed Casket Activities)