lundi 28 septembre 2020

Whipping Post

 
Whipping Post is hailing from Leeds, UK and has been around since 2015 or something.
Before getting together these guys already had quite a long list of musical acts on their resumes, especially from the brutal side of the UK hardcore scene with bands like Mob Rules and The Flex but also on the metal / power violence side with Closure, Brain Dead or Infernal Body...
More recently, and more in my sphere of interest, some Whipping Post members have been seen playing in the great Beta Blockers (check it out if you haven't already!), the furious Arson and the surprising Thick Syrup
Busy busy indeed!
 
Oh yes and the name comes from the Arthur G. Walker sculpture Christ at the Whipping Post which picture is on the band first release (see below) and not the Allman Brothers song (which would have been extremely surprising to be honest).
 
So introductions being made, where are we now?
 

 Well from the first seconds of Taste The Whip we are clearly somewhere in the late Rollins period of the Black Flag era, somewhere around and after My War probably (not like S.L.I.P which released a great LP heavily influenced by the early-ish Black Flag period a few years ago).
Yes this 4-track tape released by the band in 2016 (and as a flexi 7" by Flexi Punk in 2017) is an ode to Greg Ginn and his dark, tortured soul (I mean listen to Pull The Cord).
 
 
  Influences are great, especially when they come from such a genius band as Black Flag, and they are even better when you don't turn your band into a lame copycat and that's what Whipping Post manages to do. Yes you can hear a lot of the californian band in this demo but not only, there is also Whipping Post and its identity!
The heaviness, despair and tortured atmosphere of these songs is perfectly mastered, keeping it all together all along, forming a coherent whole
 
 

Two years and a half later, the four guys from Leeds jump straight to the LP format with Spurn Point (out on Boss Tuneage) and its beautiful refined artwork.
  Whipping Post keeps heading the same way with a slow, tortured and maybe slightly heavier hardcore than on the demo. Black Flag yes but also early Rollins Band or Swiz come to mind while listening to the noisy and chaotic despair of the 11 tracks of Spurn Point.
Probably even darker than the demo, Whipping Post proves to be able to keep it interesting on the long run without draining the source of influences. 



With Cheating The War Game, its second LP, Whipping Post keeps its artwork as refined as beautiful (these guys really have something for sculptures). Where Spurn Point was mainly black on the outside, this new full length is all white... but it does not mean that the inside atmosphere got more joyful at all...
Out on Donor Records this time, the latest production of the northern boys is also their most achieved to date. 
The recipe has not changed but the ingredients are perfectly balanced, benefiting from a great recording quality, the band sounds meaner, heavier and darker than ever.
It's slow and tortured hardcore at its best and I love it!
 
 
  But after two full lengths I hope the band will be able to find a way to spice up the mix a bit in the future or it may eventually sound tiring...



You can listen to Whipping Post on Rien à Faire #14.

N,J'Oi!




 

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