Labels: molsook
Review by: Andy Malcolm
If it had been 2001, and this had come out on Witching Hour, people would have been all over this record. But it’s 2008, and who gives a crap about emo violence any more? Most people who still enjoy screamo won’t buy the stuff unless it has post rock bits, or is ex-members of Funeral Diner. Heathens! Tigershark isn’t really screamo, but it has elements of the good version of the genre for sure. The band is ex-members of the Assistant (and the Setup, but they sucked bad), and they revel in angry hardcore that rumbles along rather finely indeed. The squealing feedback to kick things off is perfectly reminiscent of Industry, and the music tends to summon up a similar wall of power to that record, but dispenses with some of the chaos that made it so essential, relying instead on bigger riffs and a sense of forboding. Drums boom, guitars distort, vocals garble. That kind of thing. Sometimes the music flies at breakneck pace, sometimes it eases off a touch, but regardless of speed it is always punching you hard, in the gut. The bastard. If you are into stuff like Grinding Halt, I am pretty sure you’d be into Tigershark on this recording.
Flipping to the other side, we get the main attraction for me. Apeshit. I have not heard anything like this since the Exelar side of the With Love split 12″. Out of control, wild, flailing emo violence of the best kind. The punishing drumming and desperately yelled vocals fuel 12 songs of furiously energetic chaos. It’s straight out of the old skool songbook, with song titles reminiscent of a Neil Perry. Basically: relentless. Good to hear that at least some bands out there still want to make this kind of thing, and do it properly at that.