Reviews

Scream

Bleakness Words / Greed 7″

Parisian punks BLEAKNESS have a distinctive aesthetic that has been rocking in the darkness for seven years now. Anthemic, high-energy, but moody and gloomy—D-beat with a post-punk attitude. Both tracks on this 7″ feature heavy, bouncing bass lines, while the gravelly vocal delivery is somewhere beyond singing but not quite hardcore yelling. “Words” is a diatribe on politicians’ speeches and the danger of their lies with some swift guitar licks thrown in along the way, while “Greed” enters with some ripping riffs and lyrics that eviscerate capitalist culture. If you dig fist-in-the-air sing-alongs, then you have got to check this out.

Misantropic Catharsis LP

This is an angry album. Gerda, the female lead vocalist, rails at the patriarchy and capitalism as the guitars weave back and forth easily between hardcore and metal. Each song is fast, crusty, and powerfully emotive lyrically. “Day of Reckoning ” is nothing less than a battle anthem from the gutter. “Fragmentation” is pure hardcore excellence with Gerda shouting back and forth with the male vocalist, Matte. They even throw in some violins and synthesizers on a couple tracks, and it takes nothing away from the blistering rawness. After nine tracks of anarcho-rage that fans of WOLFBRIGADE will appreciate, the album manages to close on a hopeful yet pissed-off note with “The Dying of the Light,” declaring to their children “To my daughter, to my son / The future is yours when the battle is done.”

Soldier Dolls What Do They Know? EP

Three songs whose high points are often dissonant, fuzzy guitar leads. The rest is nothing new, just fairly fast-paced punk with good production. Like I said, the guitar work is the SOLDIER DOLLS’ strength, and hopefully they’ll accentuate it even more in future releases.

Soldier Dolls A Taste of Blood EP

The SOLDIER DOLLS invest these recordings with vocal zeal, yet the instrumentals miss the passion and drive this band seems to be aiming for. Still, “Victims,” a slower ’77-style number, provides a measure of catchiness to save this well-intentioned EP from its uneventfulness. The two thrashers haven’t the punch they need.