I haven't followed much crust punk at all in the past 10+ years, and was unfamiliar with either of these groups, but the cover art and band names on this collaborative release between Modstand Records (Denmark), Phobia Records (Czech Republic), and Rawmantic Disasters (Australia) caught my attention, so I gave it a shot. And I'm glad I did, 'cause within seconds I knew that this 17-minute 12" EP deserved more exposure.
Parasight (Denmark) has one prior EP and a full-length, and apparently I should look into those, as they get this thing started with five tracks of absolutely incredible darkly melodic, crusty hardcore/punk in the vein of His Hero is Gone/Tragedy (with a bit of later Catharsis thrown in)—not to mention the ferocious vocals, reminiscent of Skitsystem in their prime. Every song runs about two minutes and generally follows a driving, moderately fast pace that combines straightforward, pounding D-beat with a metallic edge of discordant riffing—on rare occasion busting out a noisy solo. "Lad Ikke Svinene Slide Os Op," though, is much slower and more menacing, with a doom-ish sense of desperation to it—gradually corroding into a wall of feedback and distortion.
Tightly performed and perfectly recorded, everything sounds crisp, clear, and powerful, with just a touch of grit. The mix feels very compact, but each element has its own space in the mix, so a nice separation between the guitars and bass is achieved.
Parasight is not necessarily doing anything new here, but they more than succeed in the flawless execution of this particular delivery. Everything coalesces to perfection—the songwriting, the performances, the energy, the recording—it's all just great: really fuckin' explosive, and it knocks you on your ass right out of the gate. As far as this niche of crust goes, it doesn't get any better. People should be absolutely flipping out over this band!
Nervgift (Sweden) has one prior EP and features ex-members of Coldworker, Kvoteringen, and Ond Brad Död (none of whom I've heard) exploring a rawer take on more of a traditional D-beat style. Every track is less than two minutes and fairly simplistic in structure, tending to be a little faster than Parasight (though Nervgift's solos are not quite as chaotic). There's a bit of a grindy break in the closer, "Straffet," but it's essentially textbook otherwise. They're efficient and in your face, however, so there's nothing wrong with that.
The dirtier and more rugged production does hurt a bit, because the rhythm section lacks weight, but the smidge of a Sunlight sound vibe to the guitars helps to make up for that. Nervgift's portion blows by in less than seven minutes, so what more can I say!?
All in all it's a damn solid outing, especially for diehard crust fanatics, though I must say that Parasight in particular is extremely impressive. Limited to a mere 300 copies, this release seems more underground than average—to the point that I'm having a hard time tracking down purchasing sources (and the succinct teaser above is the only audio floating around, too). I'll come back and update this review if I can track down any additional means of cramming these tunes into your ears...
Get It
- Nervgift (12")
- Phobia Records (12")
