Thursday 25 February 2016

Primitive Man/Northless - "Primitive Man/Northless" Split LP (Review)

By: Hunter Young

Album Type: Split LP
Date Released: 04/03/2016
Label: Halo of Flies


Dirty like water from a flophouse drain. Like your sludge blackened and charred? Here you go guy. Revel in this muck. Choke on its abrasive grit, and let it close about you head. Let it absorb you.



“Primitive Man/Northless” DD//LP track listing:

1). Primitive Man – “Empty Husk”
2). Northless – “Deleted Heaetstrings”
3). Northless – “The 10,000 Year Wound”
4). Northless – “Wasted Breathe”

The Review

From the moment you hit play, you are now in their territory and Primitive Man opens with the thudding “Empty Husk”, running at 15 minutes, it could be a 7" by itself. It drags an axe behind it, slowly, inexorably chasing you to the ground, as you hear and see the sparks from the concrete shower from the weapon they wield. Bands of this caliber usually thunder, or bludgeon the listener, but PM simply brings a rasp and some time, to wear away, patiently, the walls of your mind. They have one of the most hideously discordant sounds I am aware of, but it just rolls so naturally, like a blanket made of distortion, all the while bloody clowns beat you with the drums. Vocally, it’s just a tormented soul wailing with a throat filled with viscous liquid, telling you everything you've ever done wrong. They have crafted one of the bleakest standalone tracks ever, and it's both wondrous and frightening as to how good it feels....

In more logical words, they play with zero upbeat energy. It is completely scathing, a bleak opus to the missing part inside us all. The guitar tones alone have no give, they simply pull tight as steel cable around your lungs, and pull taught, while the rhythmic portion simply crashes into you, just as hard as if you were standing right in front of the kit. They play very physically on this track, and let their vocalist, for this could never be in the same hemisphere as actual singing, simply put a torch to your expectations. It's literally the same hopeless feeling that you have when you see something crashing at you, unstoppable, and unrelenting. It's a truly crushing track.

Northless give none at all, after the crawl through barbed wire that PM give you, with 3 tracks coming at you faster and just as heavy. A much angrier sound, instead of a forlorn howl, Northless unleash a very punked up sludge sound, with a clearer delivery musically. They simply come at you with a hammer, and a metric ton of energy, giving you a long and deep earful of pure, spiteful aggression. They have that lovely crunch in a typically progressive sound, with tons of bends and chords. It's a delightfully constructive chaos to the ear. It's the jangle of a mob getting ready to break pretty much everything at hand, and getting really excited for it.

Northless are a bit like a slower, methodical Brutal Truth or Napalm Death, and I really like their attack in three parts, “Deleted Heartstrings”, “The 10,000 Year Wound”, and “Wasted Breath”. It comes at you fast, pounding as the uniform steps of a conquering army would; heavy, without pause, and simply heralding the end. Northless will grind you into dust and leave you to smoulder where you fall. 

This split has you choose between the abyss and the spears at your back, and you will love either death you choose first. 

 “Primitive Man/Northless” is available here



Band info: Primtive Man || Northless