New IDYLLS album is available now
IDYLLS' new album, optimistically titled 'Farewell All Joy', is available now through Monolith and Tenzenmen.
When you pre-order the 12" you get an IMMEDIATE download of the album. It's fucking loose. They've got some cool shirts too. Check it out if you're into Agents of Abhorrence, early Converge or Discordance Axis (and maybe Daughters or The Locust?).
Press thing says this:
‘Farewell All Joy’ is an intense journey that brings to ferocious light the uglier sides of human experience. Brisbane’s IDYLLS balance astounding technical precision and an unbridled punishment across all instruments with a gnashing, multi-faceted vocal input. The 10 harrowing tracks warp 20 minutes through an insurmountable passage of time, with absolutely maniacal arrangements, grinding intensity, and sudden yet progressive drops in mood as key components.
Oh yeah, and they're playing 30 June at Black Wire Records with Serious Beak. More on that later.
REVIEW: IDYLLS – Farewell All Joy
Is this the future of grind?
Perhaps I should be more accurate. Is this the future of intense, chaotic music? Whereas so many bands that define themselves are 'grindcore' in a pure sense seem doomed to rehash the same tired old influences*, it feels like this crazy little band out of Brisbane spend their time pushing far more interesting ideas - not only in terms of riffs, rhythms and structures, but also sonically; their overall choice in tones and sounds.
On IDYLLS 'Farewell All Joy' the guitars crackle and squeek and scream and sparkle in the most bizarre way. Instead of creating clear, thick riffing, the guitars seem to attack with frantic metallic stabs - and effect is unique as it is discomforting. Lord knows what fucking absurd riffs they're playing half the time.
Disjointed sections, convoluted rhythms and dissonance rule in IDYLLS world - and this is matched by an overall production aethetic that is dry, trashy, and metallic. The result is pure cacophanous mayhem. It's like IDYLLS are digging into the very essence of sonic discomfort and chaos, and the effect is a very convincing one.
Unexpectedly, the final track 'Susy' departs into errie of reverb-drenched tremolo drone and feedback - almost referencing something that Earth might write. It's an interesting way to end the album after 9 songs of largely swirrling chaos (the exception being the more mid-paced breakdown of 'Amps For God / Plague Hell'). Or maybe I should rephrase that - it's an interesting dynamic to introduce in opposition to everything else on 'Farewell All Joy', but as an album bookend it just seem too typical and too contextless. I really like the concept and the idea, but I hope these more moody or dynamically dissimilar ideas are explored a little more within the actual body of the album in the future, rather than slapped on as an outro. It just seems too cheap.
But I digress. Overall "Farewell All Joy" is an intense, interesting and worthwhile take on modern hardcore. It's satisfyingly chaotic, and really leaves me wanting to catch these guys live, and curious as to where they will take their sound with future releases.
Definitely check it out if you're a fan of early-Converge, Agents of Abhorrence, Daughters, and Discordance Axis.
* If you hold a dissenting opinion, please provide reference to grind brands doing new and interesting things. I would love to hear some new fucking grindcore that doesn't bore me into a predictable death.
Agents Of Abhorrence, Extortion, Internal Rot and Aeroflot – Wednesday 22nd Feb at Bendigo Hotel
Hooray for school night grindcore, feature members of Agents of Abhorrence doing a hectic grind.
This will likely be Agents Of Abhorrence's last show before the US shows mid year and Extortion, Internal Rot and Aeroflot are also as equally as grind and will grind as hard as an 18year old at schoolies grooving to a Jay-Z song.
Straight out of the Sound Park and straight onto the stage, like true heroes of Australian grind. With most members doing a grind more than once lets hope they can keep up the relentless blasting all night loong. Featuring members of the Melbourne grindcore scene.
Wednesday 22nd February
Bendigo Hotel
125 Johnston Street, Collingwood, vi 3066
Agents of Abhorrence
Extortion (featuring members of Extortion)
Internal Rot (featuring members of Agents of Abhorrence)
Aeroflot (featuring members of Agence of Abhorrence)
8pm - $8
Agents of Abhorrence back in the studio!
Agents of Abhorrence are back in the studio this weekend. They'll be recording 17 tracks for a new LP.
The band also promises 'more tours' with their new line-up.
Awesome. We're going to do our best to get some footage from the studio.
10 reasons why Australia is the luckiest country in the world
- Extortion
- Agents of Abhorrence
- Captain Cleanoff
- The Kill
- White Male Dumbinance
- Space Bong
- Taipan
- Straightjacket Nation
- Suffer
- God God Dammit Dammit
We may be small but thank fuck we are loud.
Got any more to add?
x
Matt
REVIEW: Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt – Counter/Transference
I would argue that a lot of the 'staple'/well-established grind bands in Australia are in a period of stagnation. Nobody is doing much. Sure, Fuck I'm Dead and Blood Duster might get together for the occasional show, but those bands pretty much in a period of sterility, playing old songs they've played a thousand times before. Who is breaking new ground and injecting new energy into the Australian grind scene? Who is touring relentlessly? Who is turning heads whenever they go?
Well one such band is Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt; an energetic, frenetic and chaotic mathy/grindy three piece from the coast of New South Wales. I've kept a keen eye on the band since their live debut in early 2011. Since then they have quite easily become my new favourite Australian grind group.
Their style combines angular, dissonant guitar chords with sharp, clinically precise, jazz-influenced drumming and scorching mid-range vocals. They bring to mind the intensity of Discordance Axis and Agents of Abhorrence, the sporadicness of Calculating-era Dillinger Escape Plan, the rawness of early Converge and Pig Destroyer and the technical absurdity of Cephalic Carnage.
In a word; Counter/Transference represents everything I want out of a grind album; it's fast, frenetic, chaotic and dissonant. For a three-piece (guitars, drums, vocals) the sound is thick, natural and full. The drum sound is open and organic. There is certainly no need for overcompensation via compression and beat-replacement here.
The lyrics are also another highlight. The vocalist (unnamed it would seem on this release) earns his keep as a psychologist. With his lyrics each song providse a fantastic snapshot of emotional wreckage, confusion and mental struggle. The lyrics on Counter/Transference represent a real, actual exorcism of emotion rather than your average garbed gore/horror fucking nonsense gimmick --- real and honest catharsis as opposed to the absurd, insulting caricature offered up by your favourite death metal group. The vocals themselves are delivered with intensity to match that emotion; offering some bizarre mix of Dimitri Minakakis, J.R. Hayes and some unnamed hardcore bloker. Neither the lyrics nor the deliver ring hollow.
Let's review; Awesome sporadic, chaotic and intense songwriting? Check. Incredible drumming? Check. Dissonant, inventive guitar work? Check. Cool vocals? Check. Intense lyrics? Check. Excellent production? Check (and I would expect nothing less from the inimitable Tim Carr of 301 Studios). Great packaging and artwork? Check. Price tag? A steal at $10.
Well, welcome to my most enjoyed grind-related in a long, long time. Fucking buy it. This totally eclipses Gridlink's latest offering, and I don't see this one being topped anytime soon; not by The Kill and not by Agents of Abhorrence. Spend all the time you want pining for your favourite renown grind hobbyist group to get its shit together for an annual gig so that you can hang out with the boys like the old days - but these guys are touring constantly, writing new grind tunes and absolutely shredding anything else I've heard from even the international grindcore scene in recent years.
Dillinger? Watered down. Gridlink? Rehash. In 2011 the Fatwolf is where it's at.
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