The walled city of York, incidentally where I live, is steeped in history; many soldiers have walked and defended the cobbled streets since well before Roman times. But there is a new breed of soldier on these streets, one with a voice that demands to be heard and their name is Digicore. With a combined love of Discharge, Atari Teenage Riot and Pitchshifter these four 'CyberSoldiers' (I just made that up!) have a manifesto.

Vocalist Danny Carnage, bassist Matt Bastard, guitarist S-73 and drummer Cell (these may not be the names their Mums gave them!) bring hardcore cyberpunk screaming into 2011 and 'Without Freedom' is their debut album and is possibly the soundtrack to World War III.

The phone call intro to 'We Will Protect You' talks of a world without rules and controls and where anything is possible, the chilled opening song itself lulls the listener into a false sense of security as then the title track kicks in. 'Without Freedom' is a hardcore NIN, a brutal call to arms, the relentless pounding drums never cease and the guitars fight to keep up the tempo, holy shit! Who pissed off Digicore? And whoever it was had better stay out of the way cos I don't think Danny Carnage is in any mood to take prisoners.

'Obey!' carries on the intense beat of the title track; "They try to force you to obey ,they try to take your thoughts away" - do you get where they are coming from yet? The chorus of 'Cyberpunks Unite' has Danny Carnage screaming like there's no tomorrow. The theme continues throughout the album, defy convention, seize control of your destiny, don't conform, the message is clear. The soundtrack for a jilted generation if I ever heard one.

Digicore play like they have a gun pointed at their collective heads, like their lives depend on it. Every song is as intense as the previous one; they mix breakbeats with metallic, edgy guitars, played fast and furious. While screaming vocals like this are not to my taste, I feel surprisingly drawn into it, the music itself is fantastic, a chaotic noise that demands attention.

As album closer proper 'Your World Is a Lie' ends in a meltdown, there are two remixes tagged on at the end - 'We Will Fall' which is no less intense than anything else on here and as the last screams of 'Cyberpunks Unite' echo and fade to end the album, I feel a sense of relief, not that it's over, more that I survived intact.

These guys have a bright future and I imagine they would be awesome live. If you want to believe in something worthwhile then believe in Digicore's message - "When the Revolution comes, we will protect you" they say...I ain't going to argue with that!

www.myspace.com/digicoremusic