Catching Up With 2014- Guilty Parents: "the Black Ooze"

These grimy limeys own a healthy chunk of the noise they scraped up from the streets of Nottingham to hardcore.There are hints of Black Flag to their crust hewn brand of ...post-punk? After the first couple of tracks I am unsure if the tag even applies to the band. They are good at the craft they are beating their instruments to pursue. There is a sloppy coat of dissonance thrown over this with the same recklessness that can be found on some Fugazi or perhaps even more aptly early punk flavored Sonic Youth. By the thrid song however the what you see what you get formula begins to wear on me. If you like gritty punk, this might not be as big of a factor for you.

There is a little more songwriting instilled in the burly bass crunch of "Terminal Crush". The singers yowling is a cross between Rollins and the Cro-mags. It is better fit as a percussive narrative than for forming melodies ,which it makes little attempt to do. Fortunately the most blatant example of this fact is only a minute and half. Up tempo, but never really blazing fast, these guys work more off the rambunctious energy punk is known for. "Petrol/fire/you" has some of the albums most interesting guitar work. The bassist and the drummer are locked in with one another to might this bulldozer air tight.

The title track it pretty much straight for the throat punk.The guitars have a little ugliness to add a darker element, but the punk thing is the running current in all of these songs for better or for worse. They are tight with the punches, but the riffs are banging out the same three chords."Whistle and I'll Come" continues on with the brawling bounce all these songs carry. The vocal lines at this point all seem to create the same shouted cadences. It's the more brooding "Elephant " that establishes it's own identity by changing pace It also makes me wish there had been more of that throughout the album.  This album just does one thing, I can only take that one thing in doses in the way it's presented here, so I will give this one a 5. You can name your price for this raw slab of assault and battery on the band's Bandcamp below.

4.4