Sunken - Recoil (2014)
Recoil
is the first full album from the Belgian duo of Sunken, which employs
just a bass and a drum set, but assembles some very strong and
inventive material from their intentionally-limited tool-set; they
even omit vocals, just so they can give their full focus to the
noises they coax from their instruments. And what noises! Slow and
unnervingly creepy, hard and fast and brutal, glistening with sludgy
snarls of bass riffs, and sharp with raw aggression... it's all of
these and more, in an hour's worth of ever-changing tunes. Some
hair-raisingly good use of feedback on the bass, plus a well-balanced
level of cleanliness in the production, makes this one to turn up the
volume on until you can just barely endure the sonic punishment, or
until the bass rattles your speakers apart.
I
can't really imagine what the practice and song-writing sessions
could have been like for this, but they really paid out in spades.
The inventiveness Sunken shows is made even more admirable by their
decision to go with only two instruments, as it really drives and
challenges them to turn their hats inside-out with all the tricks
they pull on this album. The sheer fervor they inject into those
instruments has the duo sounding bigger and meaner than bands three
times their size, and the way in which they dole it out, making sure
the listener will have gotten comfortable with the crunchy melodies
before getting blasted by an assault without warning, deserves much
respect and recognition.
Recoil
is currently only available digitally, from the net-label
GodHatesGodRecords,
but if we're all very, very lucky, some wise label will get this pair
signed for a physical release. Until then, this will be regularly
spinning on my hard drive and slowly burning away my speakers.
~
Gabriel
For
Fans Of; Acid Bath, Wolf Blood, Lightning Bolt (if they went doom), Bell Witch, Norska
~
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