Double Space – ST – 12″ 2010

Double Space - ST - 12" 2010Danish noise-rock wrecking crew Double Space give your ears a good ol’ fashioned 1-2 PUNCH on this self-titled 12”. Two tracks of heavy-ass rawkin’ sludge that should definitely appeal muchly to fans of the Melvins, Unsane, 16, Harvey Milk, High On Fire and Mastodon.

Despite forming in 2003 this is Double Space’s first release, something that, upon reading their bio, seems to have been down to colossal amounts of bad luck and no fault of their own – labels collapsing, people absconding with master-tapes and a whole litany of woes. Saddening it may be to think of all the smashing noise-rock we COULD have had years earlier, one positive to come from their misfortune is that the two tracks on this record – ‘The Rock’ and ‘Bent’ respectively – have a sense of real urgency and hunger that a younger band may not have been able to express so vitally. These guys have been around the block and are just straining at the leash, eager to show us exactly what they can do. They’ve had a good 7 years to hone their craft and sharpen their edge into a deadly weapon, and that is exactly what is on show here.

Obviously it’s difficult to gauge very much about a band based upon two tracks, so for all I know, Double Space may well pull a prog rock odyssey out of that hat, come album time, although I VERY much doubt it. Both ‘The Rock’ and ‘Bent’ are cut very much from the same cloth, but maaaaan, WHAT a cloth!

On ‘The Rock’, guitarists Mikko Mansikkala Jensen and Rasmus Rosenkilde Jensen ride roughshod over the crushing rhythmic spine of drummer Per Silkjær like rampaging Pamplona bulls, bulldozing all in their path, occasionally juxtaposing the heaviness with some intermittent twisting, snaking, chiming guitar leads whilst one of them – it doesn’t say which – howls a throaty hardcore-style lament into the maelstrom. Think of a tough-guy version of Florida crushers Floor.

Yeah. Fierce.

‘Bent’ piles on the heavy, making like the Melvins circa ‘Lysol’ before lurching into Fudge Tunnel-esque hardcore riffing and pained, slurred vocals.

When was the last time a band with no bassist sounded THIS thick and heavy? Damned if I know, but I DO know I wanna hear MORE MORE MORE, ASAP.

Label: Self Released
Website: www.myspace.com/2xspace

Scribed by: Paul Robertson