Labels: Resist
Review by: Alex Deller
Shackles have released a stack of stuff over the past few years, playing a monochromatic brand of grunting, gurning hardcore that’s influenced by both grind and powerviolence. The shrill whine of feedback that kicks things off is perhaps a bit misleading, because the recording here is crisper, cleaner and less blown-out than previous releases, enhancing the record’s listenability while sacrificing something by way of savagery. The band tough their way through 12 tracks of fast-fast-slow-fast material that does what it should but rarely goes above or beyond, lingering somewhere in the middle echelons in terms of violence, hatred and songwriting ability. This, of course, ultimately begs the question as to why you don’t quit mid-way through and crank ‘No Man’s Slave’ instead … a suggestion I’d make when it comes to most day-to-day activity, but a particularly pertinent notion here.