We left checking out last year’s debut album from UK outfit Flesh Tetris by declaring it “a tonic for the musically curious, a rousing reward for the bold.” It was an adventure with the band’s unique sound and creative devilry which offered a big boisterous treat for all dipping into their enthralling world. High Score is the band’s new EP, a trio of tracks which exploits the ripe mischief and temptation at play within that full-length, Wrong Kind of Adults, and soaks it with a fresh dose of enterprise and flavouring demanding attention.
Once more the ingredients to the Flash Tetris sound are as potent and captivating individually as they are united. The double vocal dynamics of Eva Menon (Cauldronated) and Andy Heintz (The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing) are a fusion of tease and attitude, a mix echoing their lyrical revelry while the tapestries of hook loaded melodic and electro enterprise woven by bassist/guitarist Andy Duke (Top Buzzer/The Duel/Cauldronated) and keyboardist/vocalist Karen Bell provide the springboard for lost inhibitions. It is an incitement for body and imagination driven by the manipulative rhythms of drummer Jez Miller (The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing), the quartet a creative devil which as we have found before quickly had us dancing to its tune within High Score.
Though their inimitable fusion of electro rock, punk, and alt pop stands well aside of anything else there is a certain Rezillos-esque character to Flesh Tetris especially suggested by their new EP. Their sounds are wide apart but the hook swinging contagion they conjure and the massive grin carrying mischief they spring in enterprise and fun has a close connection to Scotland’s legends.
High Score opens up with A.I. and immediately has vocal chords indulged through the song’s own call before leaping into its infection loaded stroll. Heintz and Menon entangle their individual antics with that ever present devilment to the fore, their united rousing of ears joined by Bell’s equally bewitching tones. Unsurprisingly to Flash Tetris fans, things only twist and warp as the track evolves, Bell’s theremin prowess as magnetic as the unpredictable throes of the song on its way to erupting in a virulent contagion of a chorus.
Already a new richness in sound and writing is evident, the song a fully rounded encounter with all the creative fiction and daring rascality we have come to expect from their music. The following Schadenfreude is a potent echo of the fact, its body a swinging pop rock holler built on wiry grooves, melodic trickery and across the band vocal fertility. As Miller’s beats wield their air puncturing dexterity Bell’s keys weave a radiance which envelops the passions as much as the sonic agility of Duke.
Three In A Cubicle concludes the romp, the track sauntering with an imperious groove as the band observe or recall “seedy goings on in a nightclub lavatory.” Even in its relatively controlled gait there is a feral quality to the song with aligns perfectly with its melodic dexterity and inescapable catchiness. There is also a great seventies power pop scent to its buoyant breath which got under the skin as easily as the song’s many other infectious aspects.
Infection is indeed the most apt way to describe Flesh Tetris’ music, one we hope to never shake off though with releases like the delicious High Score that is not going to happen any time soon.
The High Score EP has its launch on February 15th at The Dublin Castle, Camden.
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Pete RingMaster 05/02/2020
Copyright RingMasterReview: MyFreeCopyright
The outstanding start to the album is in many ways just an appetiser to things to come, each song setting out its own individual web of craft, magnetism, and dark endeavour as epitomised by next up Still Draw Breath, a slab of primal yet deviously designed rock ‘n’ roll with a blues lining to its rise through dank cold earth. The bass of XerXes Quinn is again a predatory lure easy to succumb to as equally the biting incitement of drummer Bobby Blades; the body secured in their trap as guitar and vocals take care of the imagination with their individual tales. With a Misfits-esque draw to its holler, the track just steals self-control like a puppeteer, bones jerking to his incitement as vocal chords eagerly joined with Scott in the track’s voracious carousing.
Panic Buy follows swiftly revealing its own punk lined rock identity as beats and vocals steer the organic magnetism of the song. Bell’s backing vocals, though she is a must larger part to the band’s vocal prowess throughout the release then mere backing, simply seduced within the track’s own spirited allure; again a five prong creative attack gripping and manipulating. In some ways the song is something akin to a union between The Revillos and Dalek I Love You but distinctly all Flesh Tetris rascality.
grizzled tones of Heintz and the equally alluring European lilted suggestion of Menon take ears and thoughts on the run, sound providing scenic temptation before the seriously magnetic tones of Bell serenade from the midst of the caper. Few bands have one great vocalist, to have three feels greedy and just another reason to explore Flesh Tetris. The track is superb, managing to even eclipse its outstanding predecessor before The Hardest Part swings in with its dub nurtured electronics and rhythmic intimation. Duke has hips swerving with a gentle but keen hunger whilst the controlled skittishness of Miller’s beats is an additional glorious itch to movement. Within this magnetic landscape vocals prowl and roar stirring up even greater greed and lust for a track which simmers before it boils compared to the more instant explosions of those before it but sizzles to the same heights all the same.
The following Baby Farmer is just as virulent its temptation and effect as Amelia Dyer goes about drowning unwanted babies in the Thames. The dark nagging bassline had its claws in instincts straight away, Heintz’s vocal snarl adding to the lure as the slim but potent lure of riffs, hooks, and beats. O’Neill’s even rawer backing cries only add to the overpowering persuasion before Hidden entices the listener not only into the broader depths of the band’s sound but its arcane shadows, O’Neill performing a rite called The Bornless Ritual within the song’s infectious prowl. With threads of heavy metal and gothic/psych rock entwining its punk core, the song just enthrals as it infests.
A verbal interlude bridges one rich highlight to another as The Flight takes over, the track at first a heavy boned hard rock stomp but soon surrounding its heady march with electro revelry. It is a glorious rousing mix, a fusion of flavours which, though not exactly in a similar sound, ignites the imagination like a fusion of Kontrust and Russkaja, heavy metal flames extra spicing to the fiery mix. By now the diversity of the Ward XVI sound is inescapable, a magnetic trait among many which continues into the next up and brilliant Crystal Ball. Instantly capturing ears with its open Stolen Babies inspiration, the song quickly adds some gypsy dance revelry to the mix, Min’s accordion a flirtatious enticement as it aligns with Molotov Jukebox like antics and emerges as another unique track in the Ward XVI asylum.