Labels: Hydra Head
Review by: Kunal Nandi
This is getting on a bit, but it’s still definitely worthy of a mention. Barbaro were (yes, another fine band bites the dust) a trio from the fertile Boston music scene, dealing in a brawny yet brainy brand of melodic rock. There are weird time-signatures sure, and some surprising discordancies, but endless soulless muso analysing doesn’t wither the fact that these straight up rock the body whilst giving food for thought. The dueling male/female vocals really set the whole thing off, with the guy providing the gruff base while the girl’s soulful voice soars overhead. It’s definitely tough mid-tempo hardcore, but beautifully melodic with it, and dynamics aplenty. Beautiful tracing paper and clear vinyl packaging too. They have a posthumous album on Dopamine Records, which I will definitely be picking up a.s.a.p.