Labels: Handshake Inc
Review by: Kunal Nandi
Sulaco have been going a long time, with a stellar clutch of releases from the mid-noughties that cranked out some manic tech-metal wizardry that put them among the cream of the crop when it came to that oversubscribed genre. This LP comes totally out of the blue as I thought guitarist Erik Burke would have been too busy filling in for the reinvigorated Brutal Truth to think about his old outfit, but here we are.
It’s the usual ingredients: plenty of tempo changes, widdly riffs and yelling. Sulaco have added Mystery Ingredient X to their mix though. Their time changes are all over the place but somehow the mystical flow remains, keeping it all listenable instead of a continuous (and dull) headfuck. The riffs are crunchily satisfying, with grooving powerchords battling winding leads, chugs and squeals via some unusual but fundamentally melodic riffing that lives somewhere between Soilent Green’s obvious yet attention-deficient love of blues and Fugazi’s scratchy noise-rock discordancies. Progressive, aggressive and expressive. Go get.