Labels: Rorschach Records
Review by: Joe Callaghan
Just about everything about this record is great. The only thing I can think of which I don’t care for is the play-doh modelled artwork on the sleeve. It looks like that Scroobius Pip record. Thank goodness it sounds nothing like that though. That guy has the voice of John Fashanu. Hideous. Brainworms seem to tidy up their sound with every record, which is a very pleasing progression. Preliminarily, they were very brash, exhausting buzz-saw guitars and gut-rumbling bass in a semi-sloppy manner. With this recent release they have explored the intricacies duelling guitars have to offer. Gone is the brazen distortion, replaced by a crunchy vicious twang, with soaring clarity and cut throat dynamics. The vocals still grunt, hellish and inhuman in their delivery, but appear soaked in subtle melody and well thought out hooks. This moves away from the punk rock direction, and steers a little closer to brassy, fidgety post hardcore of recent times, in the vein of Twelve Hour Turn or Bear vs Shark, delving into quiet/loud shifts and sporadic discordance intervening straight-forward hooks and melodies, which really punch you in the back of the head when you’re not looking, in a good way, if there is a good way to be punched in the head. I can’t argue with barefaced progression from one record to another. It underlines ambition as well as the band developing as a unit. I personally find that much more engaging than another record that sounded just like the last one. When bands spin off even in the slightest of alternative directions, they can be lauded with criticism. Luckily for Brainworms, this is possibly their most accomplished record to date, and probably the one I will listen to the most from now on.