Review: Fuck The Facts - Amer

Fuck The Facts

Amer

Self-Released/Relapse

Everyone in metal should probably sit down and take notes from Fuck the Facts.  This group of Ottawa/Gatineau-based bastardized grinders have been putting out some of the best ear-splitting music around for over a decade, and do so without half of the praise they deserve.  Beginning as Topon Daz’s one-man brainchild, FTF has somehow become one of the most well-respected and hard-working bands in metal.  I’ve seen them play in some of the dingiest, dirtiest, shittiest venues in Ontario, and they always put on a fuckin’ show, even if it was only to 20 people. 

Fuck the Facts are a band I’ve long respected and appreciated, largely in part because of their ability to stay fresh and interesting in a genre that is all too often guilty of rehashing old riffs and refusing to think outside the box.  Recent albums Disgorge Mexico and Die Miserable moved the band away from pure-blistering grind and into darker, more ethereal territory.  Luckily, each new evolution of this band has been more interesting, mature, and more enjoyable than the one before. 

Their new EP, Amer, is no different.  Blending elements of grind, death, and even groove metal, this record is damn near accessible.  Now, using a term like that for Fuck the Facts barely makes any sense, but it’s oddly applicable here.  The songs are full of well-thought out dynamics, usually run around the 2-3 minute mark, and are full of amazing riffs and catchy vocal patterns.  And somehow they do all of this without becoming boring, generic, or soft.  Pay especially close attention to tracks like "Une Triste Vue" and "A Void", as they really embody what I'm trying to say.

One caveat, if you are wayyyyy into lyrical content, but do not have a grip on the French language, then this may not be the best album for you.  Written entirely in French, this album has put my 6^th grade French Immersion skills to the test.  Nevertheless, there is little doubt about the pain and anguish behind many of these lyrics. 

So all in all, if you haven’t listened to Fuck the Facts before this might actually be a good place to start.  But really, what the hell is your problem? Don’t you like good metal?  Why haven’t you listened to this band yet? Shame on you.  This has quickly become one of the best records of 2013 and easily my favourite non-English record of all time (I'm not sure if that's saying much, but whatever, it's true).  

Buy it here (And if you dig this record from FTF I highly recommend the Misery EP as well).

Review: Greber/Hiroshima Vacation - Split 7"

Greber / Hiroshima Vacation

Split 7"

Suburban White Trash Records

It is a well-known fact (around my house) that I’ve had a HUGE musical crush on Fuck the Facts for about a 11 years now, and have had the joy of sharing stages, couches, and pizzas with them over the years.  I put this out on front street because Greber is the brainchild of Marc Bourgon from Fuck the Facts and I don’t want to be accused of having hidden biases (I’m much more comfortable with my biases when they are blatant, apparently).  Now, in all honesty, the sharing of personnel is one of the only things these two bands share.  Greber provides a much grimier, sludgier style of metal than FTF’s dissonant grind, but that doesn’t make it any less appealing.  In fact, this two-man-band (drummer and bassist) are able to outperform most 4/5 person bands on this release, as they don’t mistake minimal for boring or simplistic.  Also, my favourite song of theirs is called “Twenty Nine Years Old”, which as a 29 year old grind fan greatly appeals to me for a number of reasons. The other half of this split is occupied by Ithaca NY’s Hiroshima Vacation.  They play sludgy grind/powerviolence and can keep up with anyone else in the field.  If you haven’t yet, definitely check out this band as they are bound to impress you, even though I’m sure you have impossibly high standards like most people on the interent. 

I’m very glad that I actually sat down and took the time to listen to this release because it reminds me of when I was a teenager and would love grindcore splits because it always seemed like you got more bang for your buck, as 5 minutes of intense grind is always more satisfying than one prolonged acoustic track or some such b-side bullshit.  Also, having to grow up in a pre-internet age, splits like this always gave you a chance to find out about bands that you had never heard of.  I came across this release through a message from Greber, but are now completely turned on (not sexually...while, kinda sexually) to Hiroshima Vacation, who I otherwise never would have heard. 

Check out some songs here or pre-order the vinyl here.

Review: Pick Your Side - Snakes and Ladders

Pick Your Side

Snakes & Ladders

RSR/Hate Ape Productions

Tracklisting:

1. Thru Veins

2. Bleeding Out

3. This is Not a Test

4. Throne of Privilege

5. But Wait!!

6. Don’t Cry (Neil Young cover)

7. Snakes and Ladders

When Pick Your Side started putting out music last year, I was simply relieved that something violent, angry and Haymaker-esque was coming out of Hamilton again.  Beyond that, I honestly didn’t expect much, let alone steady output and even semi-regular gigs to attend.  Fortunately, the boys in PYS seem to have some momentum behind them because they are back with their second 7”, and from what I understand, will be recording a 2^nd LP for A389 in the not-too-distant future.  

This offering, Snakes and Ladders, picks up where Survival Prayer and Let Me Show You How Democracy Works left off.  The first four tracks offer up the same vitriolic, thrashy hardcore that they have become known for, and don’t away from subject matter ranging from betrayal (“Picture your life as a knife fight and you just got stabbed in the guts”) to middle class privilege (“...point blame in protest in the words you sing your bullshit songs, won’t change a thing.”). 

The next couple tracks, “But Wait!!” and “Don’t Cry” reveal the metal/sludge roots that this band also has.  “But Wait!!” is a nice mix of hardcore and metal, which just adds a dynamic element to the record that is welcomed, but “Don’t Cry” might take a little for some PYS fans to get used to.  Why, you ask?  Because it’s a droning, sludgy Neil Young cover that clocks in at over 7 minutes.  Yup, you heard me right.  I really enjoyed it from the 2^nd listen onwards (I was a bit too thrown off by it at first), and love that this band truly doesn’t seem to care what anyone thinks of them or what they should be doing.

You can’t buy it yet (unless you go to one of their shows on their European tour or at Not Dead Yet Fest in Toronto), but you can listen to it here.

Review: Pick Your Side - Let Me Show You How Democracy Works

Pick Your Side

Let Me Show You How Democracy Works

A389 Recordings

Track Listing:
1. Dark Future
2. Plug-In Generation
3. More Cops, More Crime!
4. Meltdown
5. How to Cope
6. Looking Back
7. Paranoid or Prepared?
8. This Too Shall Pass
8. My Troubles
10. Ham Sandwich
11. Doomsday Demise
12. It Could Be Better...
13. Matter of Time
14. New War
15. It's All Your Fault
16. No Good Will Come From This
17. 2 Headed Snake
18. Right Turn

As someone who grew up in the late 90's Southern Ontario hardcore scene, Haymaker was a band to be both revered and feared. If you are unfamiliar with their threat-filled lyrics, violent live shows, and general disdain for most things on earth, then you have some catching up to do.  Getting to witness Haymaker's mayhem live was a rare opportunity to see what it was to be truly angry at the world and finally have a platform from which to scream.  In short, it was everything hardcore should be.  Fast. Angry. Political. And bullshit-free.

Saying that I had high hopes for Pick Your Side's first full length would be an understatement. A rabid Haymaker fan, and longtime supporter of Fuck the Facts, when I heard that members from these two bands were forming a group I was thoroughly excited in every non-sexual way imaginable.  Having said that, I knew that such anticipation can often lead to disappointment and 'bands were better when I was younger'-type attitudes rather quickly.  Fortunately, Let Me Show You How Democracy Works led to none of these things.  What I first noticed when I put on this album was the marked improvement in production over the band's 7" release from last year.  While still maintaining that gritty and rough quality that we've all come to expect from Jeff Beckman-related projects, the solid and full production quality helps enhance rather than hinder all 18 frenzied and furious songs.

While tracks like "Dark Future" and "Meltdown" will leave even the most ardent Haymaker fan satisfied, the metallic elements of songs like "How to Cope" and "Right Turn" help differentiate Pick Your Side from any of the members' previous projects.  The most surprising track of the album is by far "Ham Sandwich".  Not because singer Jeff Beckman calls for the destruction of various religions, but because it is much more of a sludge metal song than anything....and it's a good one!  It is these departures from the awesome, albeit formulaic, hardcore song writing that makes this album so enjoyable.

Final Word: I could go on about all the various nuances of this album, and how no topic is too taboo for Beckman to address and condemn, but this really is an album that has to be heard.  The record is a call back to an earlier and angrier age of hardcore when it needs to be, but it's also a fresh reminder that musical growth and variety is still be possible when your average song length is only about a minute and a half.

Favourite Tracks: Plug-In Generation, How to Cope, This Too Shall Pass.

Buy this album now!  It's better than anything else you were planning on buying.

Review: Pick Your Side - Survival Prayer 7"

Pick Your Side 

Survival Prayer 7”

A389 Recordings 

Rating: 8/10

Track Listing:

1. Controlled by Fear

2. Gnarly Times

3. I’ll be Happy When

4. Mentally Fucked

5. Digital Currency

6. Survival Prayer

7. World Split Open

8. Help Me Forget

9. Webs in the Sky

10. Hinkley Had a Vision (Crucifucks cover)

As the first substantial piece of music that legendary guitarist/frontman Jeff Beckman was put out since the demise of Haymaker, Pick Your Side’s Survival Prayer was inevitably going to be met with countless comparisons to the singer’s back catalog. Fortunately, this 10 song 7” will quickly silence any critics or naysayers who fear that Pick Your Side would end up simply being a poor man’s Haymaker.

Joined by Johnny Ibay from Fuck the Facts, Beckman and Co. have managed to capture much of the pissed-off, thrashy hardcore tone that made bands like Haymaker and Left for Dead so revered.  More importantly, the lyrical fury that Beckman has become widely known for remains intact on this release.   Songs like Controlled by Fear, I’ll be Happy When, and Digital Currency start off this EP with a sense of political ferocity that any Beckman fan will be pleased with, accompanied by buzz-saw guitar tones and a chaotic rhythm section.

Half-way through this flurry of distortion (10 songs in 11 minutes), songs like Survival Prayer and Help Me Forget show that Pick Your Side is able to mix break-neck speed with crushing riffs that further highlight Beckman’s anguished screams.  Finally, the EP ends with an unexpectedly impressive cover of the Crucifuck’s Hinkley Had a Vision, modernizing this atonal Reagan-era classic by adding Beckman’s hate-filled vocals and distortion-laden thrash riffs.

The only possible drawbacks to this 7” are the uniformity in song writing and production value.  While these factors are largely a matter of taste, the break-neck speed and one-dimensional distortion makes each song bleed into the next in an unintended seamlessness that sometimes makes it hard for even the most attentive listener to identify where one song ends and another begins.

Final Word:  Pick Your Side delivers the same furious thrashy hardcore that made Haymaker a hardcore mainstay throughout the early 2000’s.  While dynamics and diversity are lacking, Survival Prayer provides aggressive, distorted, hardcore without ever missing a beat.  As this 7” is a precursor to an LP set to be released in April, it provides a glimpse into future where political, stripped-down and sped-up hardcore is still relevant and appreciated.

Favourite Track: I’ll be Happy When, Hinkley Had a Vision

Review Date: March 21, 2012

Buy it