Haven't posted an actual review for some time now and what better way to get back on track than with a pissed off hardcore release. And I finally managed to lower the downtime between submission and review somewhat, though I should really be even more punctual. Anyway, let's get this show on the road...
"Jackals" are a five piece hailing from Norwich, East UK. This demo brings us six songs with about 10 minutes of tunes, carrying with itself a very raw hardcore sound. I don't delve in this genre very much, so my knowledge when it comes to comparing bands is scarce, but I will do my best to describe the music featured here.
Much like the names of the tracks, the music within has a quite dark tone above the relatively standard hardcore melodies, so much that several times I was on the verge of tagging this as crust. As stated above, the instruments have an extremely raw sound, but what is great about this band is that despite that characteristic you can still hear and discern everything. Most bands with such a coarse sound make so much noise that the instruments choke one another, but here you don't have that problem. Similarly, the vocals are a primal, raspy screaming with a lot of pack howling.
Having all this in mind, it almost comes natural that their songs are quite aggressive. First five songs are really short and violent, throwing at you a fast and reckless punch. The songs have some slower sections, providing you with a bit of rest until it all goes nuts again. Now the thing is that although these songs are interesting because of the dark/primal trait, aside of that they don't really provide anything genuine. I am guessing that someone who is into hardcore more than me could say that this is pretty standard. Here we come to a point when I want to reflect on something and that is the very last song on this demo, the sixth song "You're Nothing". Unlike the previous songs, this song is much longer and it is where the band as a whole really shines. THIS song is what really blew me away. It seems that the shorter songs really minimized the talent of the band and here it comes in the spotlight. Once I heard it I had a feeling that it was another band. All the chaos, crudeness and violence are still here, but twisted with a great song structure and a lot of variation with melodies. With this song "Jackals" really show that they have an excellent talent when it comes to composition and I really think that they should focus more on these kind of songs. I am not suggesting a style change, but I think the combination of shorter/longer songs would be superb and would very well reveal their true talent and potential.
As much as I saw on their blogspot (which you can find through their myspace page found here) the band is already recording some new songs. I am quite looking forward to hear some new songs and I am hoping that they will expand their sound a bit. "Jackals" are definitely worth the attention, so keep an eye out for them.
Some technical details in the end. This EP has been self released, but also in association with "Wineblood Music", "What Would Henry Rollins Do?", "Holy Roar" and "Power Negi". It has also been released on tape by "Sly The Bear". You can buy some of their merch at the link below and you should if you can, looks interesting!
http://www.whatwouldhenryrollinsdo.bigcartel.com/
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