Time2Shine [Bonus Tracks]

• Artist: E-Town Concrete
• Rating:
• Release Date: March 16, 1999
• Type: Contains explicit content, Lyrics are included with the album
• Genre: Rock

Review

E-Town Concrete's debut is a more ambitious mixture of hip-hop, hardcore, and metal than normal, if only because lead shouter Anthony Martini can actually rap. That he does so in a gruff half-scream is even more impressive. It's that delivery that guides ETC's music, since the band chooses to play the power surge of hardcore off the rhythms of hip-hop, instead of simply rocking a huge riff over a double bass roll and telling everyone to "jump! jump!" Tracks like "Cycles" and the title cut trudge forward, fuses lit and looking for trouble. They threaten to explode into double-time hardcore step at any moment, but rarely do. Martini's unique vocal style keeps them in an in-between world, grabbing hold of hardcore and metal's aggression, but using real East Coast flow as a delivery system. When he spits "Please excuse my f*cked attitude/But I don't give a f*ck about you" in "Time2Shine"'s chorus, E-Town Concrete start to sound like End of Silence-era Rollins Band with KRS-One on guest vocals. Lyrically, Time2Shine deals out plenty of the chest-thumping bravado that often mars rap-metal records, and down the stretch it leans too much on hip-hop cliché (rhyming "keep it real" with "two mil in U.S. bills" isn't very innovative). Likewise, the album's second half falls into a rut where traditional heavy metal pacing meets 2Pac-style flow in a toughman contest. Nobody wins, because it all begins to sound pretty contrived. Martini and E-Town are more successful when they cross their hip-hop influence and talents with hard-hitting rhythms and refashioned, slag heap hardcore, and rap about the rough Elizabeth, NJ, neighborhood they grew up in, instead of making simplistic threats and empty boasts. [In 2003, Time2Shine was reissued by Razor & Tie with bonus tracks and expanded artwork.] ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Nothanx	Anthony Martini, E-Town Concrete	E-Town Concrete	(3:20)
Time 2 Shine	Anthony Martini, E-Town Concrete	E-Town Concrete	(3:27)
Hindsight	Anthony Martini, E-Town Concrete	E-Town Concrete	(4:08)
4 the Fame	E-Town Concrete, Anthony Martini	E-Town Concrete	(3:23)
Cycles	E-Town Concrete, Anthony Martini	E-Town Concrete	(3:22)
Juswatchastep	Anthony Martini, E-Town Concrete	E-Town Concrete	(4:19)
One Life to Live	Anthony Martini, E-Town Concrete	E-Town Concrete	(1:57)
Hold Up	Anthony Martini, E-Town Concrete	E-Town Concrete	(3:55)
I Got This	E-Town Concrete, Anthony Martini	E-Town Concrete	(3:43)
End of the Rainbow	E-Town Concrete, Anthony Martini	E-Town Concrete	(3:07)
Time 2 Shine [Live][#][*]	E-Town Concrete, Anthony Martini	E-Town Concrete	(3:40)
Hold Up [Live][#][*]	E-Town Concrete, Anthony Martini	E-Town Concrete	(3:43)

Credits

E-Town Concrete (Producer), Theodore Panagopoulos (Group Member), Clay Patrick McBridge (Photography), Theodore Panagopoulos (Drums), Eric DeNault (Bass), Dan Levine (Layout Design), Dave Mondragon (Guitar), Steve Evetts (Producer), Steve Evetts (Engineer), Tyson Paine (Mixing), Tyson Paine (Engineer), Dave Mondragon (Group Member), Anthony Martini (Group Member), Anthony Martini (Vocals), Dan Levine (Design), Anthony Martini (Layout Design), Elliott Federman (Remastering), Anthony Martini (Design), Eric DeNault (Group Member)