|
|
picture by
Dylan Jardine |
It's been a while since I made a post about an Aussie band, considering
the crazy amount of guys playing top quality punk and hardcore in a such
small country (from a population point of view) it was more than time to
have one back in here!
So these four guys are from Melbourne and play in a young band called
Cutters. I'm not gonna go through another speech about the
hyperactive Melbourne/Geelong scene, you've heard it before.
I could not find much information about these guys' background so I asked
Al (aka Destructo), the singer, who was nice enough to tell me that
Tim, the guitarist, is also playing in
Stiff Richards
and that the bass player and himself played in a metallic hardcore band
called
Risk And Reason (yes that's a short bio for once).
Released as a 3-track 7" by
Legless Records
in summer 2020, I think
Cutters' debut record drew the attention of many and
immediately put the Melbourne band on the watch list.
Let's have a look at the cover first: besides appreciating the clear reference to the sharpening talents of the executioners of certain European countries (a talent that is unfortunately being lost) linked to the band's name, I really like the cover's illustration. For info it is a very famous cartoon caricature published by a German newspaper in 1919 after the defeat of 1918 at the end of WWI and which expresses all the feeling of humiliation of the German people following the signature of the Treaty of Versailles, the guillotine having, on top of the obvious execution symbol, a strong French identity.
But enough with the wikipedia stuff, let's pogo.
Starting with Chewed Up Fortune, a gem of heavy mid-tempo punk edging with oi! or with some kind of skinhead
friendly hardcore punk (depending on the way you wanna put it),
these guys have clearly decided to go for the in-your-face option. But
don't get me wrong I'm not talking Boston style hardcore or Negative Approach-influenced hardcore punk but rather some straight
forward "slow" hardcore punk with a slight rock'n roll vibe (especially on
the 5-minute-long fascinating Twister which even wanders into
Black Flag / Noise territory for some parts). No super impressive
ripping fast parts or crazy drumming show off here, only the core of punk and
hardcore with a pinch of oi! put together for the best.
It makes me think of a less Rock'n Roll and more straightforward version
of another great Melbourne band,
Punter
(you should check out their last year demo if you haven't already, it made
my
Best of 2020
list). To be honest Cutters' songs recall a lot of things but I
struggle to put a name on a band that would be really close to what I
hear.
After many listens, I think it's safe to say that at first glance, this EP could be mischaracterised as some kind of classic, straightforward hardcore punk, but these three songs are actually much more diverse and subtle than that (on top of being severely catchy), making
this record a top notch debut release.
Modern Problems was released almost a year after the self-titled 7" and features all the songs from their first (and only?) recording session but surprisingly only two of the 7"'s tracks were included (why not include Chewed Up Fortune as well when it's a digital-only release anyway?).
Cool cover picture once again, I can't really figure it out but I like the mix of geometry, fancy yuppie architecture and small boring Aussie town vibe.
So it starts with Modern Problems, a super catchy mid-tempo track which leaves a lot of space for the vocals and recalls the Wilful Boys, keeps it on with Revenge, a more classically built hardcore punk song with a strong 80s US hardcore vibe (still with that mid-tempo side though), then Robot Debt Blues that was on the first release and Circle The Drain, a very simple song with got a strong Rock'n Roll vibe before Surveillance Drones takes us back straight to some Black Flag-influenced hardcore punk with a couple of mosh parts. Twister concludes beautifully with the same hardcore punk wandering that we already had at the end of the first release.
Except for Circle The Drain which I find not very interesting, I feel that the whole session is really satisfactory, successfully including diverse influences in tracks with strong individual personalities that nevertheless fit into a rather coherent whole. But honestly I find that the Rock'n Roll side is too exacerbated on some tracks, breaking the dynamics and the balance that the band manages to find on others.
In my opinion the track Modern Problems is the purest incarnation of the Cutters' "sound", or at least what they seem most comfortable with and which frankly kicks ass and I hope they will keep going in that direction as much as possible.
I have no doubt that these guys are not done slicing and dicing so stash your fat and get ready to run.
You can listen to Cutters on Rien à Faire #22.
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire