Car Bomb - 'w​^​w​^​^​w​^​w' (Album Review)

By: Aaron Pickford

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 25/09/2012

Label: Independent

w​^​w​^​^​w​^​w is almost bereft of common parameters, such as power chords, instead it is structured around intricate alternative picking with almost cyberdyne robotic precision and poly rhythmic flair.  Such is the technical dexterity of the band, Car Bomb will leave you confused and in awe in equal measure.  It is as if the band have hard wired themselves into your cerebral cortex, and are intend on fucking with the higher functions of your nervous system

‘w^w^^w^w’ CD//DD//LP Track Listing

1) The Sentinel (03:18)

2) Auto-named (00:49)

3) Finish It (02:34)

4) Lower The Blade (04:25)

5) Garrucha (05:42)

6) Third Revelation (04:22)

7) Recursive Patterns (03:12)

8) Spirit Of Poison (05:40)

9) Magic Bullet (05:38)

10) Crud (04:05)

11) This Will Do The Job (05:39)

12) The Seconds (04:32)

Car Bomb is:

Michael Dafferner | Vocals
Elliot Hoffman | Drums
Greg Kubacki | Guitars
Jon Modell | Bass

The Review

It takes a group of precocious individuals to be able to produce a record such as this, Car Bomb the band, is just that, an incendiary device which is triggered to devastate and w​^​w​^​^​w​^​w does just that, from the outset, this record pulverises.  Tight, intricate riffs with the ferocity and stopping power of a Browning M2 .50 calibre machine.  This is Car Bombs 'Ma Deuce', with a cyclic rate of riffs hurtling at you at 800 rounds per minute and at 1,200 rpm, the music we have here is designed to cause maximum damage.  The synchronised music bears the firepower to penetrate steel over an inch thick, so it is advisable to take every precaution necessary to ensure you're own safety. This is a weaponised killing machine.

Car Bomb have created a record of precision, accuracy and immense stopping power.  Indeed w​^​w​^​^​w​^​w is as dynamic and it is unyielding.  Although I am certain that what you hear is in fact the musicians playing their instruments, the drums have that triggered feel to them.  Elliot Hoffman, does indeed possess a Drumkit from Hell.  The arsenal of mechanised drums are ferocious and the measure of the intelligently crafted riffs.  It is unrelenting chaos with the possibility of uncontrollable hemorrhaging being one of the many consequences of this record's power.  Those people with hemophilia approach this record with caution and beware of chromatic death.  Throughout the record the guitars are frenetic with technical polyrhymic riffing, accentuated with descending pick scrapes, slides and pinch harmonics incorporated to excellent affect.  These are just some of the startling features of this seemingly ambidextrous or adroit virtuosic band. 

w​^​w​^​^​w​^​w is almost bereft of common parameters, such as power chords, instead it is structured around intricate alternative picking with almost cyberdyne robotic precision and poly rhythmic flair.  Such is the technical dexterity of the band, Car Bomb will leave you confused and in awe in equal measure.  It is as if the band have hard wired themselves into your cerebral cortex, and are intend on fucking with the higher functions of your nervous system.  Invoking involuntary muscle activity and turning us on to the learning's of Car Bomb and the language of w​^​w​^​^​w​^​w . 

Through all the apparent chaos, everything seems ordered within the context of the record, in the sense that within all the oscillating dynamics of the music, there is a resistor of some sort, wired into this mechanised beast in order to self regulate the chaos before it derails itself.  It is as if Car Bomb is sticking to a set of rules or principles, an algorithm if you wil,l a finite set of unambiguous instructions performed in a prescribed sequence.  Except in the case of Car Bomb there methodology is for the music to be that intricate prescribed sequence. 

The simple facts of this record are that within it's multi faceted formula lies unparalleled jaw dropping ability.  In fact with musicianship this amazing, the future of this band has no boundaries or limits. For me w^w^^w^w must rank among the year's most intense and uncompromising records.  Which is a testament to the band's decision to single handedly oversee every aspect of this record's gestation and do it on their own terms.  This record is outstanding, and to me it is a 10/10 record.  Absolutely incredible.  Buy this record!

You can buy a DD of w​^​w​^​^​w​^​w here and CD/Vinyl here.

FFO: Meshuggah, Gojira, Dillinger Escape Plan, The Locust

Band info: Official Bandcamp Facebook