Labels: Prank
Review by: Tom Hughes
Thank Prank for some really very fine, dirgey, nasty rock. Like for His Hero is Gone. And Dead and Gone. And the Born Against reissues. And lots of things besides. but right now for this, a hugely fucking powerful, shuddering, metal hardcore epic of a record, gladly free from all unseemly metalcore associations. Coming on like a heavier and crunchier Isis (maybe I just mean Isis without the ambient parts), this is fantastically towering stuff; downright godlike, citadel-top proclamations of noise raining down on puny human lugholes. Lovely. For one thing they’re blessed with a really great singer, with a defined and forceful, yet still totally possessed roar; prudently spare deployment of cookie-monster backing vocals serves well to anchor it all firmly to the dark side. Rhythmically it’s relatively straightforward; detailed and dymanic, but megalithic, pounding and instinctive, sometimes with a doomy swing that they really have nailed. The guitars have great range, as of course must all good metal: the sound of their low-end riffing can feel like bones bouncing off tarmac at 90mph, what with the amazing gravelly grain that’s there in both the guitars and the bass. Then in the other direction you’ll get wailing-banshee-like steel-string screaming via huge arcing fire-trail lead lines. It’s got some very metal ambition and a very hardcore attention span – the songs are long-ish but there are only eight of them and it’s all wrapped up in under half an hour. Killer stuff, heavy as hell and definitely yet another deadly-sharp arrow in the Prank quiver.