Review: Peine Kapital ‘Ecchymoses’
From the opening sample of speech, Peine Kapital let us know that what follows is concerned with violence and freedom. This sort of vicious doom is not always deployed for altruistic purposes, but the Strasbourg trio are using a blunt tool for honourable ends. Immediately they demonstrate the impact they can bring to bear, we are immersed in the thickest of tones, while an abrasive edge from the vocals and distortion plays against the lumber, bends, and flourishes of doom.
As the lone, near twenty-five-minute, track progresses it becomes clear that there is a deceptive momentum to the groove – lessons we have learned before from Buried At Sea – even glaciers have to move. Indeed, thinking of those Californian merchants of eardrum collapse, Peine Kapital are also adept at those moments hanging in the howling void, recalling the masterpiece that is Migration. Throughout this first passage of Ecchymoses it feels that their impulse is to dig in and slow down. This is the gradual unfolding of disaster that is our world now.
While the drive is towards simplicity, this sort of heaviness doesn’t come from nothing – Peine Kapital have made smart use of overdubs and effects – layers of noise and voice and rattling strings, depth-charging bass notes, and the whiff of burning electricals. It would appear from Bandcamp that this is a bass, bass, drums trio – a set-up that I fully endorse, and from which they wrangle the maximum impact.
gnarly hardcore politicking, feedback and amp worship, anti-power energy, and the depths of the abyss…
With what I have mentally tagged as ‘Part 1’ begins to unravel, there is a flurry of aggro percussion, and here I wonder whether a bit more clarity and presence would add punch, but perhaps the murk is exactly where they want to be. While we’re on the sound, I would give some praise to the vocals, this is a style that abounds, and yet the blown-out sense of resistance is really strong here. Previously Peine Kapital have published their lyrics and I’d like to know about the ideas here too, as equally I tell myself I’ll revisit the samples that kick us into ‘Part 2’ – something poetic and political that refocuses after an unravelling – squalls of feedback, rolling percussion and vocal death buried in the mix.
For me these sort of passages are more part of the live thing, but as noted we are pulled back to the matter at hand – ‘la guerre de classes’. In the midst of the storm and gathering power of the riff, most of the meaning passes me by. No time to look back, a steady build of righteousness amid rising brutality. A call to arms. A precisely wielded weapon.
Peine Kapital have released a couple of songs, apparently demos, as well as the split with Sleazebag, but this is announced as their debut EP. As such I apologise for my slowness in getting some words out about this, as they feel like a vital force in the current heavy landscape. Ecchymoses is as engaged and as angry as their previous work, perhaps less combative and more monumental in its dooming, but not lacking in edge. Case in point – they use the final slowdown that draws the track to a close to heighten, rather than soften, the impact of what has come before. There is much to enjoy for many here – gnarly hardcore politicking, feedback and amp worship, anti-power energy, and the depths of the abyss. The bruises that last.
Label: Independent
Band Links: Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram
Scribed by: Harry Holmes
