Labels: De Graanrepubliek – Opiate
Review by: Alex Deller
With all the crushing momentum of a demolition ball in full swing, the Last Mile collide with your chest in the same way that bands like Systral, Acme and Carol did in Bremen’s glory days, hunkering down with a mix of grimy bass rumbles, brutal riffs and throat-searing roars to create some backbreaking metallic hardcore. The four tracks deal with religion, our lack of power in the workplace, apathy in the punk scene and feeling unable to face the day ahead, standing as an intelligent and well-considered commentary to the sound of two container lorries ploughing into each other, all rending squalls and the thundering of ruptured machinery careening down the motorway in a shower of yellow sparks and filthy black smoke”¦ Through the monstrous riffs and relentless hail of drumming you’ll occasionally come across a handful of clean chords or a wary melody stumbling like a shellshocked survivor through the wreckage, but these moments are all too brief, faint traces of life before another seismic blast puts paid to any foolish hopes of a pleasant ending with all the grim finality of a mushroom cloud on the horizon…