Labels: Static Tension
Review by: Alex Deller
New Dave Witte band, eh? Something brutal, right? Grinding metal madness, yeah? No. Oh no. Not at all. Instead this is some dour, gothy, post-punk stuff. You can compare it to Interpol, Viet Cong or the Anasazi or whatever I guess. ‘Never Gone To School’ manages to be eerie despite sounding a bit like Joy Division covering Dead Or Alive’s ‘You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)’. The refrain is vaguely unsettling, and it builds itself a good head of steam as is oozes its gluey way towards the finish line. Elsewhere, ‘Slow Dancing To This Bitter Earth’ is a bit sparkier, merging strummy pep and shimmering undercurrents with the singer’s gloomy baritone. Both tracks are pretty solid, but also raise the same time-honoured question I ask myself whenever I hear something like this: why aren’t I listening to Joy Division instead?