Review: Thetan ‘Dim Times’ EP
Thetan is a two-piece hardcore/grindcore outfit from Nashville, Tennessee that comprises of Chad L’Eplattenier on drums and Dan Emery on bass/vocals. Emery may be a familiar name as the head honcho/numero uno behind both the Anti-Corporate Music (home to the excellent The Magnolia Sessions, Kool Keith and Dave Brockie‘s pre-Gwar outfit Death Piggy) as well as Black Matter Mastering.
In addition to the six tracks included here, the extended CD version of Dim Times contains forty-plus bonus tracks that handily compiles all their split, compilation, demos, songs that didn’t make albums and a collaboration with Lil’ B. The idea behind this was due to Dan’s exasperation with people coming to the merch table asking if they had anything else available on CD, aside from the Kool Keith collaboration Space Goretex.
Dim Times is an outtake track which ultimately didn’t make the final cut and alternates between mid-tempo hardcore and balls to the wall crust-punk influenced grindcore. Though the latter is fast, it’s hardly Napalm Death warp speeds, perhaps because it veers a little more on the punk side than the metal. A great opener.
Departure is a lovely minute-long interlude that features Emery playing banjo and has the same intimate feel as the aforementioned The Magnolia Sessions. Collateral Damage is one of two re-recordings from the Laughed At By The Gods debut full-length and curiously shares the same name as the Brutal Truth classic. However, whereas that band’s version was a blink, and you’ll miss it affair at three seconds long, this is a positive epic by comparison at twenty-nine seconds. It’s pure power violence goodness in the vein of Infest.
mid-tempo hardcore and balls to the wall crust-punk influenced grindcore…
The other re-recording, Penance, is not quite as frantic or immediate and is in fact an interesting number more akin to the noise-rock of Pissed Jeans and the post-hardcore of Refused. I really enjoyed the track as it took a couple more listens to fully digest and demonstrated yet another dimension to the band’s sound.
Then we come to the EP’s two covers, the first of which is by the Dwarves. Fuck You Up And Get High comes from the highly controversial Blood Guts & Pussy album which is a bona fide classic in my opinion. To quote Dan in the promo notes, ‘It’s sort of an ode to our past, to more carefree times, but it’s safe to say our years of partying and wilding out are pretty well behind us’. The band do a pretty awesome cover of it, in fact, I would go as far as to say it surpasses the original, imbuing it with an even dirtier GBH crossover vibe. Let’s be honest, you don’t listen to the Dwarves for their deep philosophical musings, it’s music to have fun to and that’s alright by me.
Nirvana fans will be familiar with the track D7 and as a huge fan of The Wipers I was delighted to see it included on the EP. Rather sweetly, Dan‘s son is a fan of the song so hence their decision to cover it. The original track has a real post-punk darkness to it and Thetan do a really credible job of capturing that feel as well as injecting a little more of their trademark aggression. A great way to conclude Dim Times.
Admittedly I hadn’t really given Thetan much of a listen previously, but this release has given me the appetite for checking out the rest of their catalogue. Funds permitting, I may even need to invest in the CD version. Hugely enjoyable.
Label: Anti-Corporate Music
Band Links: Bandcamp | Instagram
Scribed by: Reza Mills
