Labels: Future Noise
Review by: Kunal Nandi
For some reason, I’d incorrectly consigned this lot to the Iron Monkey ripoff dustbin of my mind, so it’s only now that I’ve properly got round to listening to this band. This EP is more digestible than the “Funeral Voyeur” album for a number of reasons. With three tracks in 20 or so minutes, the band are more focussed, the stripped down hardcore riffs finely counterbalanced by bloated doom leanings. This is also the debut for new singer Mik-Hell, who has a great guttural, yet enunciated, roar on him that suits the music down to a tee. Previous singer Paul Catten was great, but his shriller, pained sneer, higher in pitch, could be a lot to take in one sitting. Anyway, the opening track here busts out the speakers with a satisfyingly weighty, atonal chord progression that instantly reminds me of Corrupted, and that is certainly NOT a bad way to kick proceedings off. LB are a rockier band for sure, but the dirge is still there. I’m not so into the second track, with its more pedestrian melody and approach, but it’s still a fine effort. The third track is more of an experimental droner using a single, repeated note, overlaid with samples, played at exactly the right tempo. An overall fine release which, like the recent Volition album, features another raw and heavy production job courtesy of Bri (himself the bassist for LB) at the 1in12.