Labels: Soul Rebel
Review by: Andy Malcolm
It takes something special to move me when it comes to hardcore. I appreciate that there are many bands out there that have something important to say, and that’s cool. To make me want to listen to that bands record though, I need to enjoy the music, and I find it difficult to appreciate a record that has good lyrics but music I can’t tolerate. Fanshen though, Fanshen – they have succeeded at doing something special to me. A hardcore band that blows me away with both words and music! They are nothing drastically out of the ordinary, this kind of thing has been done before, but Fanshen have conjured up such an uproarious and fun sound that is a wonderful amalgam of Born Against / Former Members of Alfonsin / Minor Threat – and it makes me want to get up and jump around even though I have been coughing my lungs out for the past 2 weeks and have barely enough energy to do some toast. I am leeching energy out of my headphones though, I can feel it. Flowing. Being sucked up. As Fanshen hare through 26 songs of super-fast yet gloriously melodic hardcore, and I can’t help smile. Its all here by the bucketload, the tunes, the sincerity, the love, the passion the fuck yous. Man!
From the get go, after the initial false intro, they surge into the powerful music and… oh the vocals. This guy has got it spot on. Sometimes spoken urgently like a maniac, sometimes squirted out frantically at such high speed, and sometimes bellowed angrily with a gob full of marbles, they all work. The lyrics are all good too, you can read them on the website linked at the bottom if you want. Here and there are dotted spoken word parts too. The relentless pace is mixed up with the slower, grooving “Late Hot Night” where everything just clicks again with some of the best vocals on the record, the lyrics are absurdly posi. Good stuff. Last song on side A, Fanshen have a go at Moss Icon style emo, and score heavily – this time with spoken female vocals and repetetive guitars rocking out. They should do a whole record like this, seriously.
I guess this is probably some of the most excellent hc I have heard this side of Assfactor 4 actually. I love it. I want you to fucking check this out! This record is making me feel better quicker than any medicine was.