I’m ashamed to say that I was one of those Floor fans who was completely unaware of them before their self-titled album (also on No Idea). I never really paid much attention to all those Spazz splits. That album won them a legion of new fans thanks to its combination of heavy as fuck, bassy, droning power-chords and sweetly chanted vocals, whilst perhaps not entirely alienating the old guard who still held the shitload of 7″’s and splits they released (all to be discographised by No Idea soon) in high regard.
This is the legendary “lost” album from over a decade ago that was all set to be released by Bovine before they went belly up. The Floor of 1993 was ostensibly a different beast “” certainly more impatient and aggressive, with a number of speedy (for them) tracks, and a lot more shouting going on “” but the all-important ingredient is still there, and that is HEAVINESS. And I don’t just mean turning up amps and tuning down strings. This is full-on, filthy, brutally loud stoner hardcore, with a piercing but warm distortion that threatens to drown the pounding drums. Simply beautiful.
In those days, Floor was perhaps a little more sadistic too. The last two tracks (one of which was not originally going to be on the album) take over half an hour to run their course. Like “Earth 2″’s little brother, the band’s discovery of the joyous sound of a bashed open-string left to its own devices runs rampant. The 16-minute two-note riff is ridiculous.
Just to annoy you: the newer Floor line-up split recently, with the drummer forming a band called Dove. This record is nothing to do with them, although if Dove called their next album “Floor”, the circle of confusion would be complete. Steve Brooks (pretty much the mainstay throughout Floor’s entire history) now has a new band called Torche, which has an album coming soon on Robotic Empire!