Labels: ash from sweat
Review by: Andy Malcolm
This comp is so DIY, it’s unreal. Collective is all about supporting releases like this. It is 3 bands. It is on a 7″ and a cd in the same package. It has been lovingly put together. Every record needs to be put together with as much love and care as this.
First band up that I played was NoCashValue. Their song on the 7″ is melodic and snotty pop punk with an emotional tinge to it, just like that band from your
town. It’s nice and toe-tapping, the rawness of it help it stand. I actually quite like it on this listen, good stuff! Nice twinkly parts are thrown in
against the scruffy faster paced main song. On the CD is “Night After Collision” which is a bit like some J Church, the vocals are badly out of tune. I
really like the part where it totally drops out and gets quiet and emo.
Humble Ary were the only band on this comp that I was familiar with, their song on the vinyl is a rough and explosive slice of hardcore that recalls the
first Moss Icon 7″ and Rites of Spring. Passionate vocals and messy guitars. On the CD they have “Bleeding Into Ashes” which is a fucking incredible song.
Like if Christie Front Drive got welded to Policy of Three. How about that. It has glorious twinkly guitar that contrast with the much noisier bits. I have
had this song on mp3 for a while, and it blows me away every time I play it. Super good. The other song on the CD is “Grain by Grain”, which again is
energetic hardcore with urgent spoken / shouted vocals. It’s stunning again with it’s loud/subtle dynamics. I could namedrop 10000 more bands in comparison
here but I have already done that too much in this review. I love this stuff so much. Wow.
The Gromos song on the 7″ is lovely, it’s called “Nemo” and it is a long one that fills it’s side, with gorgeous melodies, soft vocals and quiet moments that
build up to big rock outs with sweet backing vocals. It echo’s back to the 1997 indie/emo bands, before Deep Elm ruined this style of music. I love this
song. On the CD, their first song is fast, messy and poppy. Then “Broken & Rusted Machine” gets back to the style of the 7″ song, with a deliberate build up and a bass sound that is making me think of Lumber. It’s a slower paced song and is really nice. Good stuff.
And that’s that. A really neat little compilation of 3 bands that just make music for all the right reasons. Yay!