Premonitions of War – Left in Kowloon (Victory Records)
Ultra-brutal grind/hardcore, classic hardcore, but it still manages to squeeze in some very unusual elements into itself. There’s some death in here, there’s some grind, there’s noise, and then there’s the stoner rock. Read on. This has got to be one of the most interesting and bizarre CDs I’ve ever reviewed. All songs are short (with only a couple of exceptions), they all contain insane breakdowns, they’re vicious like none other, and they all slay. The vocals are gurgled and shouted and screamed, the guitars spiral and twist and turn and go everywhere all at once with all sorts of squeals and slides, and the rhythm sections is almost scatterbrained, doing whatever the fuck they want. I love it!
Tracks:
1) Bursts right out from the start and is just a barrage of blast beats (gasp!) and pinch harmonics and chaotic vocals. Kickass!
2) Starts with breakdown-like triplets and death vocals, but then becomes this driving tune that’s all BAHC. The drums are out of this world, and that breakdown at the end is sure to clear up a pit or two or twenty.
3) A minute of incoherent guttural vocals and guitar swirls. Breakdown, of course, is great.
4) Another minute-long song, with more spidering on the fret board.
5) Just a bit over one minute this song has actual construction! It starts out with a groove that builds into a short atmospheric part, and then double-bass-fed breakdown for the masses.
6) Starts out chaotic like the rest, but it quickly slows down and becomes what I guess one would call noise-core. Drawn out power chords at a doomy pace with relentless groove-laden drums and guitar feedback and FX to feed an army. Think Isis, but much heavier. Un-fuckin-believable.
7) Ok, time for the avant-garde song of the album. Five minutes of noise, walls and layers of noise, with subdued drums, peppered with vitriolic dual-layered vocals (think Dani Filth when he does his harmonic shit, only way brutal). This song is such a fucking trip, I shit you not. I’d imagine Chief would love this.
8) Whew. Back to the grind pace, this song pretty much tries to tear you limb from limb. Recommended if you’re into that whole self-inflicted pain thing.
9) Stoner-core? What the fuck? The vocals remain the same, but the guitar riff could be from any Trouble album, or anything Wino’s ever written. Total southern rock and doomy blues, this is insane! This is what love must feel like!
10) Madness once again reigns supreme. No thinking outside the box, no challenging the norm, no fucking around, just a car crashing into the side of a restaurant, disturbing you while you try to enjoy your meal. The last minute of this is pure brilliance, though.
11) Slower pace, but still head-splittingly painful.
12) Last song? Already? This ends just as I was starting to enjoy the pain. Bummer. At least the last song makes you wanna go back and experience the whole thing. I think I just might...