Labels: Wolves and Vibrancy Records
Review by: MH
This is a split record with three songs by two different bands from Germany and England. Abrakadabra are new to me and come from Berlin. Their sound is 90s-focussed and with something of a noise rock thing going on. The blurb mentions both The Jesus Lizard and Fugazi and they aren’t bad starting points for how this sounds. Fugazi is a clear influence particularly in the opener before the more lumbering noise rock of “Sonic Force Field”. Final track “How Did Earvin Become Magic?” is where they really hit their stride. It’s a right pummeller with its bolstered rhythm section and drive. These three songs do much more than enough to get me interested in Abrakadabra and looking up what else they’ve done. Over to side B now. I was impressed by Magnapinna’s “Pedant” record last year when they sent it in for review. Any band name-checking Unwound in their blurb will always grab my attention initially. It surprises me that I haven’t seen more talk of them on the internet but I don’t know how active they are with shows etc. These three songs are typical of their lurching, teetering and grooving post hardcore. It lumbers along at mid-pace and the vocals are yelled for the most part and off-mic. It’s another solid effort from these guys. Very nice split.