Labels: Coffin Cut
Review by: Alex Hannan
I snagged the latest 7″ by Australia’s NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT with a LEFT FOR DEAD lyric in mind, hoping the band name was a reference to the line in “Skin graft.” Musically they’ve ended up bringing THE SWARM to mind more than Chris Colohan’s earlier band, while ditching the lead guitar elements of that particular brand of metallic hardcore, but it’s enough to make me suspect my initial guess was on the money. The songs are concise and punchy, only closer “Koro anxiety” going above a minute and a half.
The sound is heavy on the mid-range, the vocals throaty and low. It’s caked with transistory-sounding distortion, a tiny bit tinny, but the sound works and blends well. An LP of this kind of sound could get muddy, but over the ten minutes this lasts I’ve got no complaints. There is some strong songwriting here, the galloping/chugging alternation of “Bastardiser” makes effective dynamic shifts throughout: “Seized up” rides a hiccuping thrashy blast into an eerie bass driven lull.
First track “Bastardiser” gets stuck into scenesters: “In your eyes this is religion / The sick cult is a waste of time / Your ‘hardcore’ is looking pretty weak now / Dick shrivels every time.” I want this kind of song, and the other similar lyrics on this 7″, to have a good concrete point or two, or some lyrical zingers (see: LEFT FOR DEAD’s “Dirt”) rather than vague jibes about “ego masturbation”. It’s too reminiscent of the thousands of bands whose fingerpointing songs are cheap vehicles for the singer to put on a righteous act.
“Occult lesion” and “Eklah”, on the other hand, deliver some of the most memorable lines on the 7″ – “Clutch like a toddler at life’s frill / You’d give your kingdom for another breath / And you will / And you will.”
Last track “Koro anxiety” is named after a syndrome which gives sufferers the fear that their genitals are retracting and disappearing. The lyrics deal with the aftermath of a one night stand from the male perspective, and remind me of the kind of obsessional pre-feminism male writing which I’m glad has dwindled – the big man problems taking centre stage while little women puppet characters hover round the outside, hardly seen as real people.
They seem to have inherited from LEFT FOR DEAD etc a zest for winding people up and pushing buttons. The interviews I’ve read have them justifying themselves pretty well, but there’s also some dumb would-be provocative crap on their internet presence which I’m less impressed with. All in all this 7″ doesn’t quite pull off the desired effect for me. Although I’m into the music, the lyrics and attitudes didn’t give me much I felt like fingerpointing along to.