The Feral Young – I Haven’t Seen Myself in a While

Untamed, wild, and aggressive to the point of bloodthirsty at times…you would expect little else from a proposition called The Feral Young. Theirs is a sound within their new offering which ferociously devours the senses yet equally a predator adept at prowling the listener like a sonic wolf waiting to move in for the kill. It is a character and intent which goes to make the I Haven’t Seen Myself in a While EP one menacingly striking encounter and The Feral Young a band very hard to ignore.

Hailing from Finland’s oldest city, Turku, The Feral Young unleash a voracious fusion of punk and noise rock also embracing rich scuzzy essences from the likes of garage and stoner rock. Formed in 2017, the band has drawn references to the likes of Every Time I Die, Metz, Whores, and Queens of the Stone Age but as I Haven’t Seen Myself in a While reveals theirs is a sound already discovering its particular individuality, a uniqueness already growing since its predecessor, last year’s Failures EP.

I Haven’t Seen Myself in a While swiftly trespasses the senses with opener The Beat, its initial guitar graze of sound an enticing lure into a thick wall of temptation driven by primal beats as a raw sonic ‘hum’ escorts their predation. The equally nagging threat of the heavy bass throb adds to the intoxicating menace ears and appetite quickly fell too, earnest vocal squalls completing the rich bait making a delicious intrusion. Like a call to arms, a piper to primal instincts, the track sets the EP off on a major high.

It is a lofty perch which Amnesia Alibi cements; its raucous noise punk mixing with psych shimmers and surf ripples in an undulating eddy of snarling incitement. Again rhythms simply ensnare as melodic toxicity and vocal incitement bait, the track mercurial if always invasive in its attack but relentless in its creative and inventive savagery. It is another major temptation to The Feral Young sound so easy to succumb to.

The EP’s title track completes the encounter, the song a relatively kinder assault but as fiery and drenched in unbroken spirit and attitude as its companions. The band’s more garage rock instincts come to the fore in a roar sharing the same kind of punk instincts as artists such as The Punks and The Stooges mixed with the ferocious enterprise of others like Whores and Pigs. Though not quite matching the massive heights of its predecessors, the track is a rousing blaze escalating the impressive and thrilling outcry of the release.

With new music in our ears almost without breaks being excited is a regular treat, finding ourselves lustily animated a far rarer occurrence but one The Feral Young inspired with ease. Roll on the album the band is said to be currently unleashing from their undomesticated hearts.

I Haven’t Seen Myself in a While is out now digitally and on Ltd Ed 7” vinyl via Kaos Kontrol; available @ https://kaoskontrol.bandcamp.com/album/i-havent-seen-myself-in-a-while &  http://www.kaos-kontrol.org/shop/the-feral-young-i-havent-seen-myself-in-a-while-7-inch

https://www.facebook.com/theferalyoung   https://www.instagram.com/theferalyoungsucks/

Pete RingMaster 03/11/2018

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Mnemocide – Debris

Debris is the title of the new EP from Swiss death metallers Mnemocide and also what will be left of the senses after facing their seriously appetising debut release. Four instinctively and invasively ravenous tracks skilfully woven through deliberate enterprise, the EP is a striking introduction to a band already suggesting very big things could be ahead for and from them.

From Basel, Mnemocide began in 2017 but emerged into the open earlier this year after honing their death metal bred adventurous sound. Joining producer Christoph Brandes in Iguana Studios near Freiburg, Germany, the quintet recorded Debris a few months back, a debut which quite simply makes us what to hear so much more.

EP opener, Only Shades, comes into view on cold winds, a portentous pulsation accompanying its emergence before guitars entangle the growing intimation. It all veers into a groove driven stalking of the senses, a powerful and sinister stroll loaded with restrained but invasive rhythms and potent throat raw vocals. Those grooves continue to lure keen attention within the similarly inviting if threatening consumption of sound where melodic enterprise and tempestuous intimation only adds to the track’s imposingly stirring presence, the EP off to a highly persuasive and stirring start.

The following Pawns swiftly manipulates the imagination with its initial samples, accentuating its persuasive lure with the subsequent tide of advancing riffs and heftily swung rhythms. Stride by creative stride, the track is persuasive warfare, every note a magnetic statement of intent as barbarous as it is captivating. If its predecessor impressed, the second song had us lustily hooked, success pretty much matched by next up Collapse, another track which got further under the skin carnivorous riff by barbarous rhythm. As suggested, the classic heart of death metal beats within the Mnemocide sound but again this is a song which embraces its seeds with imaginative adventure and violently flirtatious catchiness.

The same template breeds EP closer Soul Collector, a track chipping away at defences from its first breath as beats lustily land on and riffs gnaw away at the senses with almost viral contagion. Even darker, ravenous hues gather as the track prowls, all accentuating its grooved temptation and mercurial veering towards inhospitable countenance.

It is a fine end to a release which has become more stirring and irresistible by the listen. There are also big hints of a brewing uniqueness within the EP which only adds to an anticipation of what is to follow from a band ready demanding eager attention.

The Debris EP is about now; available@ https://mnemocide.bandcamp.com/releases

https://mnemocide.com/    https://www.facebook.com/Mnemocide/

Pete RingMaster 02/11/2018

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Laura Beth talks to She Robot

Ahead of her performance at Polyfest this past weekend Laura Beth from BBC Radio Manchester sat down to chat with multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and beatboxer Suzy Condrad aka She Robot…

You are playing PolyFest this year. You are obviously an X-Ray Spex fan. What tracks will you be playing from the classic ‘Germfree Adolescents’ album which is being celebrated for its 40th anniversary? Also, could you explain what those tracks mean to you?

I will be playing ‘Art-I-Ficial’, ‘Obsessed With You’ and ‘Warrior in Woolworths’.

‘Art-I-Ficial’ for me is about how consumerism moulds people and also how they are conditioned to feel a lack of responsibility towards being moulded – in effect how people are conditioned to express their identity passively through the accumulation of products and branding, rather than positively and authentically on their own terms. I’m passionate about creativity and home-grown music, and firmly believe that people should create their own scene around them to reflect what they believe in.

‘Warrior in Woolworths’ seems to me a reflective look at youthful rebellion and how legitimate anger can still lack direction – all still highly relevant in the era of the zero hours contract, with social problems like knife crime still sadly rife in the inner cities.

‘Obsessed With You’ is somewhat ambiguous. I wonder if it’s self-referential, Poly herself being rightly sceptical of the media attention focussed on her, always conscious of the commercial agenda and power play which always threatens to compromise art.

I can’t imagine you will be doing sound-alikes. How are you preparing the tracks? What can the audience expect to hear on the big night?

I’m increasingly inspired by an electronic sonic palate, so obviously I will be taking these punky, guitar-infused tracks in different directions!

I think it’s important to bring a cover to a new place – why try to emulate a classic version which can’t be surpassed? Also, I’m a one-woman show and can’t play the saxophone! So you’ll have to wait and see…

I’ve been listening to your work and its rather unique. You seem to blend different genres to make highly original hybrids. Where do you get your inspiration from?

I’ve always listened to a wide variety of music, following individual songwriters who stand out to me regardless of genre, and my head is basically a big, jumbled toybox of lyrics, hooks and harmonies from songs I’ve loved over the years. I fumble around and experiment with sounds and ideas until I find something that sticks.

Which other acts are you looking forward to seeing at PolyFest?

I’m looking forward to seeing Fuzzbox, whom I’ve heard so much about, and also Doctor and the Medics, as I very much enjoyed Clive’s recent acting performance in ‘Poezest’ and can’t wait to see him in his rock ‘n’ roll capacity…

Your show is spectacular and you play all the instruments. It must be a complicated process. How do you go about setting it all up?

To create a song which loops, there has to be some repeating element structurally. Sometimes you have to take liberties with a cover to get that element to work.

Then I spend a lot of time listening to different sounds – synthesiser patches and percussion sounds especially. I never quite know which direction a track is going to take until suddenly two or more elements click, and then inspiration strikes.

-It’s been a pleasure speaking to you and I thoroughly look forward to seeing you at PolyFest.

– Laura Beth, BBC Radio Manchester