Review: Noosed ‘Rise’

With an intro of marching boots and evangelical/nationalist proclamation Noosed bring the enemy firmly into our sights. And in response they kick off, no hanging about. Each track bursts out viciously as if you didn’t tape it right off the cassette your mate lent you, or found it lying on some rank cellar floor after a good party.

A blown-out scuzz of a noise, fast fast fast where it needs to be and bloody furious. The band don’t tell us much about themselves but do help us situate them somewhere between grind and sludge via crust. Which sounds about right – driving but not manic tempo, raw shouty vocals and artillery blasts cutting through teeth-grinding dirges. I think this is what people see in early black metal, rough and bleak, but instead of spiralling up into a white-noise of treble Noosed pull us down into an uprising of the rotten.

The drums are less overtly programmed than on some previous Noosed tracks, and the vocals are set a bit further back, which all adds up to a sharper edge and more punk sound. I’m remembering seeing bands like Black Eye Riot back when I was all about the Iron Monkey sludge.

A blown-out scuzz of a noise, fast fast fast where it needs to be and bloody furious…

It’s not clear exactly what the political intention is as lyrics are partly buried in all that filth but it is clear that this is incitement to kick the fuck off, with the option of bashing some fash or eating the rich – the hooded insurrectionist with the smoke grenade on the cover is not just being a nuisance at Download. It’s this militant tendency who put a lot of the ‘heavy’ scene to shame, with their indulgence and escapism or drop-out drug mysticism.

So what happens on Rise? Seven fierce songs, only two of which stretch into a third minute. Noosed have put out three similar-sized releases since the end of August last year (plus a single track earlier this year encouraging donations to various organisations in the wake of George Floyd’s death and associated protests), so it seems that ‘no hanging about’ applies to the output as well as the content. There’ll be another one along in a minute, hopefully.

RISE AGAINST THE SCUM.

Label: Trepanation Recordings
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp

Scribed by: Harry Holmes