Labels: Waking Records
Review by: Alex Deller
Sometimes I am at a genuine loss for words. It can be because of the simple reaction I have to certain songs, or the fact that there’s so much going on that it’s difficult to untangle what I’m hearing. This Ship Will Sink are one of those bands, and my being dumbstruck is pretty much a combination of those two factors. I listened to their demo a whole lot, and since getting it in the post I’ve been spinning this cd on a frequent basis. And despite all these repeated plays I’m still lacking what I really want to say. Before I even get to the music I want to talk about the feel I get from these six songs. There just seems to be so much fucking rage in here, so much passion and conviction it just kind of catches me in the chest and sweeps me away, which is a rare feeling indeed. Musically it’s a big chaotic mess, like some absurdly complicated map to some fabulous hidden treasure. Earth-scorching, screamy, mathy hardcore, done better than pretty much anyone and never forsaking a good song for needless fidgets at the fretboard. The first song alone chops from complex, fragmented stabs and crashing chords to tuneful melodic breakdowns as if it were the easiest thing in the world, with the various voices trading guttural roars for imploring, desperate hollers in the time it takes to draw another breath. The band keep to this unpredictable formula throughout, seemingly bored with a riff or idea after playing it through once or twice, launching into something new whenever a fresh new fancy takes them. And despite this footloose approach, the music never sounds like a string of riffs flung together for the sake of putting out a record – this shit clicks, hanging together like something wonderful and monstrous in equal measure. Lyrics are lengthy streams of angry prose, dealing incredulously with the fucked up things humans do to other humans and the loss of a loved one, before ending on a note of striking positivity with ‘forgetting names and faces’, an ode to the scene, the kids ™ and the power this crazy noise has to seemingly imbibe us with eternal youth and force life back into burnt-out bones. There are so many good things to say about these nineteen minutes of music that I really think I could go on all night. So I guess it’s best to kill the words here, before telling you to just go and find out all about it for yourselves.