Body Dissolves

It's been a couple of years since I gave this band's last tape an unfavorable review on this site. In that review I noted my belief that the previous material was "decent," an adjective which perhaps undermines my actual feelings on the releases, and this one in particular: I actually like it a lot and find myself coming back to it more and more as I age.

The thing to know about this tape is that it's not remotely metal. There is black metal in its DNA, to be sure, and you'll hear it in the chord progressions and "necro" production, but from a musical standpoint this is basically what you'd expect from a "chain punk" band existing in the deepest underground that punk has to offer. Those are the terms on which this tape should be judged, and on those terms it is a shining success.

The brute simplicity of the guitars is complemented nicely by the bare-bones drumming and barked vocals. None of the songs hit three minutes. The vocals conjure neither bygone days nor the fields of total war - rather, they reflect the bitterness of an angry man left behind by society but trapped in its inescapable grasp.

There are some less-expexted sounds on offer here, from production choices like the heavy echoing reverb on the vocals to the almost-metal riffing on standout track "Names Withheld." The wash of feedback toward the end of piss-and-vinegar closer "Empty Vessel" brings a new sonic texture as well, but for most of the runtime all you're getting is barebones, concrete-cellar punk. If that's what you want to hear, I can think of few bands and few releases that do it this well.