Labels: Zegema Beach Records
Review by: Oli Saunders
üÃÂÔõö have members from USA and New Zealand, some of which have been in Yaphet Kotto and Makara. Not a bad way to get my attention. Funnily enough, they are pretty crushing, and it’s good to see a modern band going for the chaotic style of the likes of Orchid. They fly through their main two songs in just over two minutes and have me wanting more. I am into it, though whilst the instruments hit the sweet spot the vocals don’t quite manage it. Sorry, but they are a little generic and need more variance. Their third song is three minutes and seems a complete throwaway – a piano, with some people arguing in the background. A guy tries to do some singing and then screams for a bit. To be honest, what were they thinking? Plenty of promise here if they stick to the good stuff and work on it.
Samarra play an interesting style, combining the shriekiness of Spirit of Versailles with a sound that harks back to Sophora. That was ten years ago and I suspect this band have never heard of Sophora but I could be wrong. It seems they can’t quite decide what they want to do; they start doing spoken vocals on track 3. It again has potential but is too messy here.
24th December 2017