Band – Grizzlytwister
Album – Ont Blod
Label – Midmarch
Release date – May 2007 (so…….now!)
Sounds like – white noise gone hardcore.
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Sweden – responsible for the following:
Ikea
Ulrikakakakakakakakakakakakakaka Jonsson
Wally Walrus
ABBA
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To name but a few. It is also the country that noise-core 5 piece, Grizzlytwister hail from. Formed in 2002; Grizzlytwister have been kicking around the scene for about half a decade, but remain relatively unknown on our shores. This seems quite remarkable, considering Sweden is responsible for one of (if not) the best hardcore/crossover bands ever, Refused. “Ont Blod‘ (Mischief Blood) is the band’s first UK release on MidMarch Records, home of technical rockers, Take a Worm for a Walk Week, and Mastadon-lite Raindayfuckparade, and naturally they fit right in, almost perfectly.
Describing the sound of “Ont Blod‘ is simple. Imagine having two theremins strapped to your ears, then being told to run through a Dillinger Escape Plan moshpit. Unsettling? Yeah, just a bit. The title track does enough to be almost completely unlistenable, sounding like Lightning Bolt jamming with SunnO))), Whilst “Knives‘ is something Trent Reznor wouldn’t mine stealing and using as his own. Any up-and-coming horror movies need this track on their score. The synthesisers are reminiscent of someone being brutally tortured; whilst vocalist Jonas Holmberg’s demented screams are those of a crazed scourger. “Your Hell Saviour‘ is the closest thing resembling a song in the conventional sense and even this eats away at the senses like maggots round a rotting corpse.
“Come to Nothing‘ lurches along like Godzilla jacked up on cocaine; full of discordant chimes, rampant stabbing guitars and sickeningly loud blasts of synthesised noise. Whereas “Nothing Beats Like A Dead Heart‘ pulverises the senses with its swirling thrash-metal-meets electronic attack, combining nightmarish shrieks of rage with inconsistent and often meandering keyboards and unbelievably loud drum beats. “Black Box‘ is perhaps the only track that showcases any real tune within its breakneck fury, but even that is debateable.
Throughout “Ont Blod’s’ 8 tracks there is no respite. There is no time to stop and think things over. There is no time to fathom out what the hell is going on. It takes you apart in just over 31 minutes, blurring the boundaries between breakcore, hardcore and harsh noise in the same time as an episode of Red Dwarf. Removing yourself from the Grizzlytwister world is a strange experience; your hearing instantly returns. If you were looking for a band that features both harsh noise and the hardcore aesthetics of Refused, Grizzlytwister are a good place to start. Deaf-tastic.
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Links
Grizzly Myspace
Grizzly Website
Label Site
Refused
(Grizzlytwister will be touring the UK in October, check their website for details!)
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By Ross Macdonald