Labels: Iron Lung
Review by: Alex Deller
While undoubtedly a great album, I’ve been finding ‘Termites’ a lot harder to get on with than the one before it. There’s nothing tangible I can put my finger on, but there’s just an awkward, sullen air about things that makes it a proper bugger to digest. As with its predecessor, it’s all about fragmented guitar digs, tightly-interlocking rhythmic throbs and the kind of hoarse, raspy, echo-laden yells that you might expect to hear tumbling from the mouth of a slackjawed freak who’s pursuing you through a system of underground tunnels. While the tight-yet-dishevelled nature of things and splintery sound definitely recalls prior Aussie scummers like Feedtime and Venom P. Stinger it perhaps reminds me more of Circus Lupus played at half speed and given the same seamy, bass-heavy production job as ‘House Of GVSB’. Like I said, not an easy morsel to keep down and most definitely one that’ll be repeating on you for days afterwards, but eventually you’ll find yourself building up a tolerance to the thing and grudgingly enjoying every bitter mouthful.