Monday, February 25, 2013

She Rides/Dripping Slits - Crucial Fix 7"




If you think limited 7 inch vinyl releases are the domain of douchebags, then skip this review and go read Pitchfork, douchebag. For the non-douchebags, here's another 7" platter served up from the good folks from Negative Fun records. The first band, She Rides play tight booze fuelled garage rock to swell booze too. At the start of "Grease in the Wheels", there's a touch of soul in the vocals but things get a heck a lot of rawer and more raucous after where informed, "the party never stops". "Rage Forever" is a speedy head rush that propels at full throttle although there is a tempo change at the end and as it has previously been a full rush the only option is to slow down. Dripping Slits are dirty, raw garage nicotine stained garage punk and when they sing about rock bottoming out, you just know there aren't any pretences here. This is another grimy slab of rock from Negative Fun that brings the party and swills in the mess for days while stepping on the potato chips and tripping over the bottles and cans but still partying despite being bleary eyed.   If this 7" is a contest and let's face it, split releases are, it's a damned tie.  Both bands equally bring it.   Get this 7 inch now, douchebag.




4/5

Check out this release here.

She Rides on facebook.     Dripping Slits on facebook


Sunday, February 24, 2013

Noye - Away





In the review of Ukranian band Nonsun, I mentioned that I hadn't heard any Russian rock or metal bands since the eighties and then sure enough a Russian sludge band shoots and lands an email in the inbox.  Calling them sludge isn't really fair as there's much more going on in the band's music.  Noye themselves state "we play some mix of sludge, doom and post-metal but we try to do it our own way".  

The album features a few short songs by an electronic band called Kratong which assist in creating a post-rock atmosphere and in some ways this could be considered a split release except for the fact that Kratong are on track 1, 5, 7 and 10 instead of the usual direct split separation of bands on shared releases.  The first track "Mire" by Noye is Sabbath tinged sludge with all the heaviness of elephant testicles.  The song quietens down towards the end and will keep those who like a little post in their metal smiling happily.  The vocals fall somewhere between Cookie Monster and Caveman but are still more accessible to a more casual meta listener than the average death metal vocalist maybe because the vocals are much sparser here.

  I'll admit I'm not the greatest fan of a great many bands who have tried their hands at post-metal hybridization but with this crew it works.  A problem many of the lesser post-metal bands suffer is the songs sound disjointed but Noye's quieter moments are obviously part of the song and wallop with a crushing heaviness that lighter moments, when in the right hands, can provide in "Spinners".   On the surface, "Fracture" is a noisy beast but there's a soft underbelly that allows you to stroke it but then yells at the listener and stands up to brutally assault the senses in a pleasurable way.   Doom strikes in more than one way in "Terror", the riffs are slow paced and convey that an unescapable evil is making its journey your way.

Noye are proof that the Russians are coming and also offering up musical hybridizaton of the highest and heaviest order.  Check out "Away" on Noye's bandcamp page.

Noye on facebook

4.5/5

Small Takeover on facebook



Beastwars - IV

After over a year off for various reasons, we have returned solely because we wanted to review the new Beastwars album. I really w...