For the past couple of days I've been stuck with music which is somewhat outside of my usual norm. I guess that I get distracted way too easily, like a dragon and shiny objects. Needless to say, you should thank this band for putting me back into my rightful place, since if it weren't for them who knows when I would muster the will to write for the blog again.
Today on the blog there will be nothing but despair, rage and violence. "Black Hole Of Calcutta" comes crawling forward from Portland/Seattle, spreading darkness and chaos. As much as I've seen on the internet, there is various information regarding this project, so I'm uncertain what is the exact year of its birth, but presumably it is somewhere during 2010. Thus far the band already has an impressive amount of releases behind its back, including splits with names such as "Wojczech", "Human Error", "Lycanthropy" and "Bloody Phoenix", to name a few. Given that the band is still somewhat young, their already lengthy discography definitely deserves praise. Additionally, a little bit of info that will surely tickle your interest is that both Ian and Jesse, the strings (vocal and otherwise) and drum players respectively, also contribute to the project known as "The Makai". Aside of them, I'm not sure who else is in the band. The record sheet says that they are a duo, but elsewhere online I saw that they have four members. For the sake of the review, this is one pissed off two-piece.
So as I said in the intro, I've been distant from my music lately, but "Black Hole Of Calcutta" was just the kick I needed to push me back into my usual habits, with a complete frenzy might I add. This release is interested in nothing else other than punching you in the gut and leaving you on the ground either fighting for air or smearing yourself in your own puke.
The opening track "Myth Of Progress" starts off the album with a sludge-like rhythm, dragging around and spewing a nasty melancholic mood. One minute and some seconds into the song you are faced with a rather sharp turn in the dark corridor, since the band jumps at you and starts beating your ears into a pulp. What follows is an angry thrashy hardcore, powerviolence, crusty, dear mother I can't breathe monstrosity. From that moment on, it's all about extremely fast riffs, pounding drums and exerting your lungs to their maximum. Imagine "Masakari", "Enabler" and "Wojczech" having a tea party, then in the midst of it comes "Black Hole of Calcutta" to smash everything.
Once the five minute opener is done, you are continuously faced with short, violent outbursts of madness until the very end. Only two songs barely manage to exceed the two minute mark, so everything happens fast and you have no idea what just hit you. Basically it took me a couple of hours to take a listen to the entire record, since I kept replaying each song a dozen times due to all of them being so catchy and energetic. The thing that really caught my ear is that, despite complete mayhem going on around you, the band manages to insert an exquisite amount of jammy melodies and even flowing, melodic punkish tunes. Shortly put, this band is a whirlwind and at times you are given less of a beating, depending on where the wind throws you.
This record has been released by mutual efforts from two different labels. Release and distribution for Europe was handled by "I Feel Good Records", while "Give Praise Records" took care of the USA. You can check out both of these labels on their websites here and here, respectively. The design is simple, yet effective, as you can see from the cover. The back of the record is done in a similar manner, black with white letters showing the names of the twelve tracks. I have to say that I loved the insert from the very second I saw it. Two drawings are present and they are done in an interesting style which goes so well with the font used for the lyrics. The said font is also really plain, hand-written, but it looks so damn good. A very interesting and appealing record all around.
"Black Hole of Calcutta" managed to throw at us one truly powerful record. Excellent composition, superb production and just a massive sound featuring so much uniqueness, thus I sincerely have no flaws to attribute to these guys. I do feel sorry that I discovered them so late after many of their records, but I will definitely keep an eye out for them from now on. Check them out on their bandcamp page found here and shower them with support, you will definitely not regret it.
Innteresting read
ReplyDelete