Labels: self released
Review by: Alex Deller
Proving that once again appearances can be deceptive, They and the Children begin proceedings with a pretty piece of guitarwork that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Promise Ring album. Great thinks I, just what the world doesn’t need “” more people who don’t realise that Braid did it better. But just as that thought flickers from my synapses the façade comes undone and the hounds are unleashed. Arising from the winsome twinkle emerges a bludgeoning cacophony that recalls the might and fury of Seven Days of Samsara “” dynamic, metallic, modern-day hardcore that fuses melody with ferocity and has some articulate words of wisdom to back up the noise. A wonderful ruckus that could be described as a car crash in which the members of Tragedy and the Assistant collide and meld in the flames. The music surges and rolls, an undulating tide of slab-heavy riffs and weaving grooves as the vocalist bellows until his lungs break. The demo hits its highest peaks with the last two tracks: “faculty of man’ takes a midway break from the onslaught with a potboiling drum/bass/vocal workout before rising again into an iron wall of riffs; then “a simple phone call’ rattles the spine with a minute of noise before calmly segueing into a fuguelike, delay pedal-infused state of City of Caterpillar-esque wonderment. Extraordinarily good stuff, and yet another punishingly good reason to keep your faith in punk assured.