Genre : Thrash Metal / Punk Crossover
Label : Earache
Origin : UK
Rating : 9.0 / 10
Buy it now
UK based silence massacrists of Short Sharp Shock shoot 25 sonic shrapnels towards your direction, divided along 40 minutes of freshly presented thrash metal / punk mixture that is quite unlikely to miss you surely and totally, granted you did not forget to put a pair of ears on this morning.
The high track count may seem to be quite surprising for the playing time of the release, and the reason behind this is nothing else than a dormant, elegantly served justification of the band's name : the tracks indeed are short and sharp, and pack eloquently presented, well articulated musical furiosity without exception. Read on to find out more about this LP, that which has a perfect understanding of what it wants to accomplish and how it wants to come through as, managing to pull off its own timeless aspirations without you even noticing it, due to the constant lack of opportunity to process what just happened before you already find yourself in the emotional register the LP wants to command you into.
Short Sharp Shock's musical furiosity is much more different than that you would experience listening to recent death metal affairs, for example, as SSS fronter Foxy addresses his numerous frustrations in a manner that is very easy to relate to : he does not scream per se, he instead declares his disillusioned notions and thoughts in an extremely natural way, pretty much speaking on the top of his lungs as opposed to screaming. This style, while effectively negates the need, hell, even the dormant desire to deliver melodic lines throughout the vocal palette of the output, firmly establishes a mood that hits you in the face as utterly appropriate and well suited for this form of music. Short Sharp Shock wisely recognizes that there is no need for musical pitches in the vocal contribution when the emotion behind them already smashed them to shreds, anyway.
There is maybe one track on the entire LP on which Foxy sings effective pitches : "Foreign Body Plot", but you truly do not even need more. His performance is quite entertaining to listen to while he is producing a consecutive breakdown on each and every track to follow, and this entertainment value is persevered as result of Foxy's ability of keeping the last bit of sanity intact and non-tinkered with. That last bit of sanity always comes in handy for music, after all.
Integrity and well established balance are focal traits of this output. While the sound of this production is equally violent and raw, it also is very decently and carefully engineered, giving you a thrash metal / punk experience that is very easy to grasp unto and appreciate the moods it is taking you to. The instruments are clearly audible and reign in top form, diligently refraining from abusing each other, from placing you in a crowded mess of audible stimuli.
The primal portion of the output explore the good old fashioned neurotic rage and related dissatisfaction you probably want to - at least theoretically - immerse yourself in while cultivating and observing this genre, yet the Short Sharp Shock dudes exhibit a rather good taste in balance, throwing in a decent, playful and quite easily approachable instrumental with the title "Future Primitive" at the relative middle of the album. In Short, Sharp and Shocking form : you will be Shocked, how good it is. Go get it.
Rating : 9 / 10
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