Sunday, July 5, 2020

Ils : "Curse"






This band from Portland has been rumbling the underground with their  blend of noise rock that is so burly it hits ike methed out sudge. The vocals are more punk. They back off of the bludgeoning on  the title track  which is like a mix up between Clutch and Black Flag. Due to the groove. The vocals go into a nastier snarl in places. They use a fair amount of dissonance and a gnarly bass on tone with menacing your ears with " Don't Hurt Me" .  Their drummer proves himself with me in on the more metallic attack dealt by "No Luck".  Their sense battery of your ears, gains a little sonic atmosphere with "Noose" , while following their song writing formula. The vocals are clearly fixed into the two dynamics vomiting snarls and screams or the drunken punk exclamations.


"Whitemeat" tackles rascism, this is the only song where the lyrical content became pretty clear.Their punk side makes this political / social purging make a little more sense. The guitar riffs swirl around you on this one. They also go into how the problems of this world have something to do with parasites. If they are referring to the fact all humans are parasites then I am on board. "Northstar" finds the beating beginning to numb you out. Here they are chanting that it just doesn't matter'. This is a thought that is universal and doesn't just apply to this song, but any of the things they seem to be angry about. The vocals trade off from the screaming to more spoken sections quicker on "Casket Race" that works off a more taunt chugging. In places I can hear a Dead Kennedys influnce.  'It's Not Lard, But It's a Cyst" . Has more chaotic energy, though not vastly different than they have already been doing perhaps marginally more riff driven.,

The guitar's going into the last song have more of a throb, but they of course explode out of this. The syncopation is more deliberate, The vocals have less focus. I will give this album an 8.5. If you like rowdy punk flavored noise rock with a tendency to tell you what is wrong with the world these days then this band is going to be up your alley.




No comments:

Post a Comment