Review by: Oli Saunders
Tonight I’ve decided it’s screamo evening, even though I’m feeling a bit ill and I’ve got a headache. Probably listening to guitars being thrashed around, drums pounding into your brain, and people screaming like they are in incredible pain is not the best idea; warm hot chocolate and reruns of Dad’s Army would be better. But I’ve had a new pile of records in my room for a week or so now and not got round to listening to them, so it is time!
Fuck yes Resurrectionists don’t mess around. Intense chaotic emo with one vocalist doing high pitched shrieks and the other doing lower pitched growls. The guitars flail around with an occasional bit of melody, kind of like their contemporaries Louise Cyphre and Singaia. The drummer is fairly ridiculous, beating away at great speed for the most part, slowing down in places to get their breath back. I really like how intense a feel the drums give the music. It’s typical grind drumming I guess…? Throw in a few audio samples and weird feedback type noises and you’ve got a new German screamo band to either love or hate or ignore.
I don’t usually like deep growling vocals but here they work really well with the higher pitched screams. I find it kind of weird how integral the exact instrument and vocal set up is to whether I like a band or not. If the vocals are not shrieking or shouted then I’m normally not interested. Except a few particular bands which sing, which makes little sense? If the guitars don’t have that emo feel to them then I’m also out normally, regardless of screaming ability. I probably wouldn’t like these guys without the shrieking, but it works so much better with two vocalists.
Anyway, I’ll shut up now. This in summary is a great demo which is a crossover between screamo and grind, so fans of either genre should have a listen. The record is really simple, they’ve recorded it onto a 90 minute tape even though it only lasts 5 minutes. I’m not going to check if they’ve recorded any secret messages on the remaining 85 minutes. The tape comes in a paper box with a nice insert, containing lyrics in German and English as well as song explanations in English – definitely stuff that I can relate to. It also comes on a CDr if you don’t have a tape player. The artwork is cool – demented figures with weapons raised high in the act of killing people. Nice. Apparently this came out in January 2008 so I’m a little slow on the uptake, but they are clearly not at all well known a year and a bit on from this. Think they are now getting a bit more attention as they have a split coming our with Merkit and are touring soon with Dolcim. (Whose new record I am going to review in a minute!)
25th March 2009