By: Peter Morsellino
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 03/04/2020
Label: APF Records
“Compelled
to Repeat” CD//CS//DD//LP track listing:
1). Blood Moon
2). Anaesthete
3). The Cadaver Speaks
4). Black Cloud
5). Trepanned Head Stares at the Sun
6). Custody of the Eyes
7). Tenantless The Graves
8). Matryoshka Brain
9). Compelled to Repeat
The Review:
With groove laden riffs and demonic aggression,
London four piece Beggar provide us with the
soundtrack to the most fun apocalypse imaginable. A doom-laden slop that can be
danced to all night, “Compelled to Repeat” is a party
record for the rest of us.
Low tuned guitars and walls of
distortion, a godless howl soaring high above an unforgiving back beat. It
sounds familiar, doesn't it? But just
like discovering that your grandmother's cookies contain the same butter,
flour, eggs and sugar as everyone else's, we realize that the raw ingredients
make up only the basis for the thing we love so much.
So what is it, exactly? Well, reader, I would have to say that just
like the heaping spoonful of love that your dear gram tossed into her cookie dough,
the answer lies much deeper than the genre standards presented here. I think
the success of this one lies within the band itself and the good time that just
can't be hidden by the grimy sludge piled on top of it.
Every riff on this album drips with
swagger. There is a persistent groove to every fuzzed out, doomsday invoking
riff. This is an all that just wants to keep you moving, regardless of the end
times presented by the musical narrative.
You just can't help but feel the beat. It might be apocalyptic, but it's
a really good time.
I for one have absolutely no problem
with this. There will doubtless be purists who disagree with me, either
shouting from their podiums that fun had no place in the doom and gloom that
they have come to love, or even flat out denying the good times present in
these delightful grooves. That's ok. Everyone has an opinion. This is mine.
With its fuzz drenched riffs, chest
caving beats and chaotically screeched vocals providing imagery of fire and
brimstone raining down on a world gone wrong, punchy grooves provide a medium
for us all to dance ourselves out the door.
Beggar's “Compelled
to Repeat” is the feel-good hit of the biblical revelation, and I
compel you top give it a listen.
“Compelled
to Repeat” is available HERE
