Cottaging : "the Amyl Banshee ep"

Most of the time I prefer full lengths to eps,but it's hard to imagine wrapping your head around a full album's worth of weirdness this bunch Providence, Rhode Island  punks  scraped together.These guys hail from band like Ukiah Drag, Libyans, Cult Ritual and Diet Cokeheads, so with that in mind you might think you know what you are getting into...think again.This falls under post- punk in manner not unlike A Place To Bury Strangers does if they a ingested a near fatal dose of l.s.d.They have a healthy interest in Black Sabbath.They combine garage rock psychedelics with an abrasive lo-fi fuzz that sometimes leads them into formless murk on songs like "Bermuda Comptroller" . At times this blend brings to mind early Butthole Surfers.

The album opens with an often angular spasm of dark garage punk."He Was an Idiot but Also Retarded" slows down with a darker jangle as the bass builds into what should be the verse. It's a break down of the same groove, with the guitars having plenty of room to play with. The trip goes wrong on "Bermuda Controller" which reminds of of one of the scenes in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" where the drugs go really wrong for them. If Neurosis were hippies when they made "Souls At Zero" it might sound like this. "Fas Eno" continues to dish out the degradation, though this time around it's stripped down into an early punk sound, when it still held solid rock n roll roots. These guys would have to be a lot of fun live as the song demand to be jammed out into a hypnotic din that the recorded version can only contain so much of and still be songs. So if you think of it that way they owe some of this sound to Hawkwind.

The guitars are layered with jagged yet melodic dissonance. punk side takes control of "Melted on the Rocks". But their take on punk is slathered in almost Sonic Youth level of  effects.The lyric " I hope I make it to hell on time/ on someone else's dime " sums up the feeling being conveyed here.There version of hell must be a cross between an 60's exploration film and a Hieronymus Bosch painting if he collaborated with Rat Fink.The fuzzed out bass leading into the closing song "Krystal's Tune" is the only moment where I detect metal influence here. The vocals continue on with the burly punk shout they retain through out the album. I really like the surreal beat like images the lyrics bring forth. I'm pretty impressed so much I'll give this one a 9 despite the fact I am not sure how much actual play time I will get out of this one in the future, but enjoyed the listens it demanded for me to fully digest what was going on here.