Beast As God – S/T – CS/DD 2013
Nottingham based Beast As God have a decent pedigree for plumbing the depths of the nastier side of the human psyche. Formed from the likes of Moloch and the unhinged Dead In The Woods, the assembled cast members know a thing or too about making the kind of music that could form the soundtrack to a back alley knife fight.
One thing is for sure their self title EP is a visceral hardcore shock to the system that will leave you grinning manically in delight or running as fast as you can in the opposite direction. This isn’t the friendly version of hardcore that is all tattoo sleeves, white wife beater vests and top brand trainers; this is the grimy, ugly side that harks back to the 90’s Hardcore scene that threw up bands like Catharsis and Integrity as well as the early grind of ‘Pain of Mind’ era Neurosis.
Beast As God take this brutal template and pummel the life out of it, but not before throwing the listener off with a luscious rich doom sounding opening to ‘Eschatological Vision’ (that’s visions of theological end times to those less familiar with future studies) showcasing the impressive crisp and clear production before crashing the party with furious churning riffs, squealing guitar accents and break neck drumming.
The vocals mirror the music as effect laden garbles mix with full throated roaring. Just when you think that this is going to be a race to the finish the track drops into a slow groove, heavy and ominous, like a gathering storm, before the mosh pit fodder cranks up back up to end on a high.
‘I Know Who You Are’ is a sub minute piece of grindcore that comes on like a steel toe capped size eleven to the face, never dropping tempo despite the multiple musical and vocal acrobatics performed by the whole band, individually and as an ensemble. It is a short, sharp and deftly executed too.
‘Against A Dark Background’ is a positively epic length 2 minutes forty-five in comparison but mixes a more punky vibe with chugging and atmospheric guitars whilst maintaining the fury yet still managing to be memorable and dare I say, catchy.
The band close out the EP using dark pounding riffs and almost tribal drums with apocalyptic vocals as the band flex their rhythmic muscles on the fittingly titled ‘Eulogie’, creating a truly frightening track worthy of being the entrance music for the Whore of Babylon herself, ending in prophetic tones and squalling feedback.
It is easy to make a racket in this hardcore game and not actually do anything impressive, Beast As God remind me of departed South West band Schiztome and the much missed Superjoint Ritual in their ability to meld brutal, uncompromising savagery with subtle touches and interesting song writing, however this self-titled EP sounds like the coming of the end; a touch of doom vibe melded with uncompromising brutality and it sounds great. Now available as digital download and on retro format of the moment, tape, for when the computers fail and we are plunged back into darkness.
Label: Viral Age Records
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp
Scribed by: Mark Hunt-Bryden