Labels: Mudcore – Pure Passion
Review by: Alex Deller
Lavatch is five fellas from Cologne playing polished, professional metallic hardcore. Initially I was having a bit of a tough time figuring out who to compare them to. I thought maybe latterday Earth Crisis with a whiff of the more expansive djent bands doing the rounds and aided by Light The Fuse And Run’s production job, but that didn’t quite cut it. Then I thought maybe a comparison to some of those largely-forgotten 00s bands who were sniffing round the screamo camp who Andy would have written off as ‘too metal’, but that wasn’t quite right either. Or a groovier Takaru with an emphasis on the chun-chun-chun but, nope, not quite. And then I figured out that it actually just sounds quite a bit like Shai Hulud. Now, I’ll admit to a fondness for ‘Hearts Once Nourished With Hope And Compassion’ and to said band being pretty raging when I saw them upstairs at the Garage however many moons ago (with a rubbish German band called Paintbox, a no-show Spy Versus Spy and the headliners super pissed because their van had just been broken into…), but this sounds like a slicker, later iteration of Shai Hulud than that. This means it’s packed with muscular riffs, widdling that stays the right side of incessant and aggrieved rrrrroarrrrrs aplenty. It also means it’s ultimately a bit too glossy for my liking, but if all that waffle I just waffled made you stroke your chin in a musingly appreciative fashion then there’s a fairly good chance you’ll have more fun with it than I did.