Labels: Tiny Engines
Review by: MH
Direct Effect put out a 7inch a couple of years ago that featured four solid tracks of fairly straightforward hardcore that went largely unnoticed compared to much of Ting Engines’ output. I liked it but it wasn’t something that blew me away. All the same, I was keen to hear this one having enjoyed that 7inch. I stuck this on and the first thing that struck me was the brute force with which the band is playing. Every now and then I like to have a band launch the kitchen sink and Direct Effect do that here and then some. The rhythm section is much more powerful than before and their blend of noise rock and hardcore here is something of a blistering barrage. The other thing that struck me was the vocals. There was aggression on that 7inch and their demos yet they don’t compare to this LP. They are now way more ragged, venomous and rabid. It pretty much makes the LP for me. There are moments along the way where the bar gets raised too – I’m talking about the riff and the last twenty seconds of “[]”, I’m talking about the pummelling opening to “Solar Flare” as is threatens to hurtle out of control, and the rowdy “Nostalgia” which briefly appears before “Thoughts Of Honey” brings things to a raucous conclusion. I could talk about every song on here really – “Modern Rock” is as rabid a tune as I’ve heard in ages. Brilliant. The whole album. The only bits I don’t need are the few forays into metally guitar solos but that’s just a personal taste thing and they are few and far between. Right…after all that I need to calm down so I’m off to listen to Lake Michigan for the rest of the evening.