jeudi 24 mars 2022

Invertebrates

 

Ok ok I know this demo was released early January, no no it didn't fly under my radar, I mean I even included Red Lake Earth in RAF#31, so yes I definitely could have found the time to do a little write-up about that killer tape, it was on my to do list to be honest but... well.. you know how life is, I got pulled towards other releases, other stuff etc... and it didn't happen. Anyway Sorry State is now releasing a new run of the demo tape which gives me the perfect opportunity to finally talk a little bit about Invertebrates.
 
So Invertebrates could be described as another American band made up of punk veterans (in this case from North Carolina and Virginia) who've played in numerous bands (Public Acid, Wild Rose, Lipid, Wriggle among many others) and who manage to play some kind of incredibly fast and tight hardcore punk (that' s a conclusion that me and a good friend regularly come to when discussing the quality of the "musicians" in punk and hardcore bands: with the exception of many bands from Scandinavia, especially Sweden, American bands play in a completely different league than European bands... which is both a bit irritating and frustrating to be honest, but c'est la vie!).



So yes no surprise here this tape is an absolute ripper... it's just exactly what you can expect from the best of present day hardcore punk, it has all the right influences from all the classic super fast 80s US hardcore bands but it's played even faster and, most of all, much tighter! And that's the main difference with all the great names from the 80s, it's just incredibly well played (I could be wrong but I feel that, with the exception of a few really good bands, most of the 80's bands sound extremely sloppy compared to Invertebrates), the average skill level of US punk musicians is just super high these days (and that's great I guess). Invertebrates are probably influenced by bands like The Fix and Koro who were both fast and tight (and super good).
 
These guys obviously decided to make it sound as much as possible like a tape landing straight from the early 80s and it's a total success: the whole thing sounds quite "compressed" (a bit too much in my opinion). But don't get me wrong, it's still super powerful, the drums don't stop pounding your eardrums like a jackhammer at blistering tempos while the guitars manage to break through the chaos just like they should... it's just brilliant!
Invertebrates makes me think of three different bands for three different reasons: the comparison with Bootlicker (especially with their 2021 LP) is quite obvious as the vocals got the same kind of "low-frequency aggressiveness without being hoarse" (you know what I mean right?) and the drums... I mean the drums of course! Then there is Loose Nukes, I was listening to their Behind The Screen EP this morning in the Paris subway on my way to work (maybe I should start doing the "I can't talk about music without talking about me, myself and I" thing like a lot guys seem to be doing these days) and as much as I love their records I couldn't help but think that that "tape-sound-worship", or whatever you wanna call it, is a bit of shame when you think of how "life-changing good" (can I say that?) this band is on stage (Loose Nukes at K-Town in 2019 is one of the best shows I've ever seen) and the recording of their songs doesn't pay justice at all to that. So I have the same kind of feeling (a lot less than with Loose Nukes though) with Invertebrates. The third band is Krigshoder, because when I think of incredibly fast and tight I just of them, their tape was just the best (it disappeared from bandcamp but it's still on YT). 

But enough pointless blabbing... just pump up the volume on your fucking air-pods and press play! Invertebrates rule the world and will outlive mankind, that's all that matters!




N,J'Oi!
 
 
 
 
You can listen to Invertebrates on Rien à Faire #31.
 
  


 
 

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