Bokanovsky - We Stumble - LP (2009)

Labels: Flower Of Carnage – PurePainSugar
Review by: Oli Saunders

This album came out three years ago, but this review is reasonably well timed seeing as the band, after going on a bit of a hiatus, are seemingly back together, recently releasing a demo of new songs, whilst a spin-off from the band, Child Meadow, are also releasing records and touring.

On this record Bökanövsky expand their sound rather significantly from their one sided 12″ debut and later splits. The album consists of just two songs, one 15 minutes long and the other nine minutes; it’s pretty rare for hardcore bands to try something like this. I’m into it, but I must admit I miss the short sharp nature of the songs on the first record. And my brain fails to come round to the idea that hardcore songs can be this long. True, there is enough variance in each song and they could be viewed as a series of songs strung together, but I still think something is missing. The second track raises the bar a bit, with its melodic intro and gang vocals which sound really good, before it takes a trip down memory lane and becomes more clearly a longer version of the sort of song they used to play. Overall, I like this but to be honest I’ll stick more with the other records Bökanövsky have put out. Looking forward to checking out their new stuff though.

11th March 2012