Recently released by Sjakk Matt Plater is the debut 7" from Norwegian hardcore/punk outfit Morethanthis, a new band that features Bjørnar Næss and Håvard Godøy from Lash Out, no less. Expect four concise tracks in about 12 minutes that take on a D-beat influenced style that's loaded with driving midpaced rhythms and gruff vocals accented by just the right amount of melody. Great recording, too. They're not trying too hard to shoot for an oppressively heavy sound, nor are they taking things in an overly raw direction, so the mix is nicely balanced and you can get a good feel for the different guitar and bass textures, etc. Many bands of this nature can tend to fall on the boring side, but Morethanthis definitely brings enough energy and character to their songwriting to keep things memorable and interesting. In fact, once all of the subtle melodies, darker atmospheres, and killer backing vocals gel together, the end result starts to become reminiscent of To What End?, another Scandinavian act that has perfected this particular style of hardcore. I'm not sure what Morethanthis has planned in terms of future activity, but I'm certainly looking forward to hearing more! This is great stuff...
Unfortunately, I'm not seeing many distributors for the 7" just yet, but hopefully it will start to spread around a bit more in the coming months!
Comments
As DIY as it gets, the band also got a video made of the song “shed no tears”.
You can check it out here:
http://vimeo.com/20876250
4.26.2011 | By sabbia
Mid paced rager! You don’t often mention d beat styled hardcore punk bands nowadays. Did you get burnt out on it?
5.1.2011 | By Z
Probably, to some degree. I definitely haven’t listened to much of that style as of late.
5.2.2011 | By Andrew Aversionline
It’s cool. The only reason I asked is the bands you do tend to write about in that style are (usually) awesome. It probably would have taken me a lot longer to find out about killer bands like Acursed and Kontrovers.
5.6.2011 | By Z