Labels: Baskat – Midnight Manhunt
Review by: Kunal Nandi
What’s in a name? Enough to put me off listening to this straight away perhaps, but wouldn’t a rose by any other name still smell as sweet? Maybe not if they were called poostews, but regardless, I liked their album “Struggle” a great deal, revolving as it did around the Bremen metallic hardcore sound popularised by Acme, Morser, Systral and the like. For those foolish enough to be unfamiliar with the sound, the watchword is heaviness, although manic speed often features, making for an arse-kicking combo. The vocals roar in a deathly fashion, with guitars either meatily chugging away or flying off into Slayer-esque leads, and totally on-point drumming with plenty of double kickdrum and time shifts. “Misericordia” however, is an ambitious development in this field, being as it is a single 11-minute song that ticks all the above boxes without being long just for the sake of it. Neato riff follows neato riff in a rhythmically playful manner that flows well, melodic motifs making reappearances throughout the track, grounding the song into your memory. It’s good to see them stepping outside the lines of the blueprint to make something so entertaining. This white one-sided record also looks great, with a beautifully executed ornate screenprint on the flipside.