Labels: self released
Review by: Oli Saunders
I have not heard much from these two bands previously, in fact I don’t think I have ever listened to Gonzo before, so it has turned out to be a nice surprise receiving this in the post to review. A simple but personal handmade split of hardcore with clear screamo influences; I am indeed the right person to send such a thing to.
Gonzo are up first and start things off with some noisy guitars and feedback, reminding me a bit of Battleship in fact, before deep screamed vocals join in and the Battleship reference disappears. It’s pretty raw and seems to take a lot of influences from other genres too; a sort of black metal / crust feel to proceedings at times, and overall is just a bit of a chaotic punk mess. The first song is a decent start, but the second is much better. Here we see a large decrease in the general noisiness and disjointed feel, as the song takes on a more epic feel. It really goes for it in the last minute relentlessly; this is my favourite part of their recordings for sure. I love the high intensity and repeated riffs. This is nice stuff, sounds a bit of a slowed down version of A Flower Kollapsed mixed with some other hardcore bands, that’s the best namedrop I can come up with.
Laatste Halt are up next and have a more jangly octave chord sound. It reminds me of Milvains a bit but sped slightly – a sort of hardcore punk / screamo crossover in places. Well the first song anyway, the other two are more typcial screamo. Not mind blowing but pretty good and honest. Again the recordings are quite rough but that’s all good. The melodic part at the end of the final song sounds like something Louise Cyphre would come up with, before there’s some dual shouting over the top and then everyone playing as fast as their arms allow. A good end to proceedings.
Overall some decent early recordings for both bands and they are worth keeping your eye on if you like lots of screamo. The best thing for me is that they both play a sort of screamo but have other things going on, which keeps it interesting and slightly original.
22nd July 2010