Where they from?
Sacramento, California. According to Wikipedia, Sactown is the sixth biggest city in California and its contemporary culture has led to it developing a “hipster city” reputation. Really? How can it possibly compare to Portland? Are the coffee shops that much more anarcho-syndiclist? Do the bike messengers deliver messages to other bike messengers? Is there a nine foot tall statue of Bill Murray looking sad while wearing a beanie in 90-degree heat?
Why the hype?
So, this band, despite having a name that sounds like a bonus track off of World Extermination, aren’t necessarily the most BRUTAL band to come across the desk of us here at Blast Worship industries LLC, but what they may lack in pure metallic aggression they make up for in…creativity? Yeah, that’s right, the OTHER C word. Listening to this duo for the past week I realized that to me they basically sound like an early ’90s skate-punk band a la Suicidal Tendencies but they incorporate blast beats, which is an interesting enough combo as to garner our vaunted attention. The spirt that runs through all of this bands recordings is the sort of snot-nosed fun that skate punk can provide while also taking the opportunity to punish you with some super suffocating blasts here and there.
Latest Release?
Definition of Insanity. So, the two things that really jump out about this record, aside from the aforementioned skate-vibe, is how intensely political it is and how cool some of the interludes are. A few months ago, I would have thought the band might be a little too heavy-handed with some of its political diatribes and lyrics, but honestly, this shit feels a little too apropos for the colossal turd storm we are currently facing. As for that second thing, holy shit! When this band kinda lays back and sets a groove, it is really well done. I was just sitting in a work meeting this morning with the intro to “War is a Racket” stuck in my head over and over. I would definitely be interested to see what these guys would do if they decided to set out just to make a straight up hard rock record. Never thought I’d say that about a grindcore band in 2020 but to quote the great Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully “In the year of the improbable, the impossible has happened.”
