By: Eeli Helin
Album Type: Full-length
Date Released: 14/06/19
Label: Southern Lord
Recordings,
Daymare Recordings
Daymare Recordings
”Undercurrent” CD//DD//LP track listing:
1.
Demise
2.
Vertigo
3.
Punishment
4.
Lack
5.
Abandon
6.
Fiend
7.
Plague
8.
Garbage
9.
Wrecker
10.
Hatred
The Review:
Japan's
Friendship
ground their way to peoples consciousness with their 2017's debut LP ”Hatred”,
that saw the seemingly unknown band deliver a unique hybrid of grindcore,
powerviolence and sludge that left everyone wondering what it was that so
violently and suddenly hit them. Released digitally and on CD by Daymare
Recordings and on vinyl by Southern Lord Recordings, they now return with
their highly anticipated second full-length titled ”Undercurrent”. The
vicious blend of the aforementioned styles has been taken to a higher and more
ruthless level, guaranteed to make your ears bleed and slap your blank, music
police faces profoundly throughout its duration.
The
album starts with a longer drone/feedback intro until starting an
inextinguishable fire on "Vertigo".
The track itself is a promise of an excellent album, wavering through d-beat
passages and blast beats into a colossal breakdown and back to where it
started. The following burst titled "Punishment"
delivers what it states. The track, and the whole album for that matter, is
punishing and unrelenting to the point of being exhausting. This is where the shorter
running time comes to play, since shorter albums like this are easier to manage
and you won't get that listeners fatigue at any point. From the beginning, Friendship's
influences are quite apparent, but whereas the previous album lacked
originality to a certain extent, "Undercurrent" makes up for
that, providing a strong bedrock for the band to build on.
The
exquisite, self-dependent writing is mostly distinct towards the latter part of
the album. Tracks like "Fiend",
"Plague" and "Wrecker" stuff more filth in a few
minutes than a lot of bands do throughout their entire albums. There's a lot of
variety and well placed hooks all around, which makes Friendship stand out as an
interesting act that will certainly give you your money's worth. That being said,
this album will fly over the heads of those who are not familiar with this type
of aggressive, constantly pummeling execution. Others are born to it, others
will never tolerate it, but if you keep an open mind, it is rewarding as hell
when material like this comes along the way. While the band is still young,
finding their own voice so early on is really exciting and interesting, and erects
high expectations for whatever it is that they'll do next.
The
only pothole they trip on a few times on "Undercurrent", is
the repetition of similar song structures. Gladly this doesn't dominate the
feeling of the entire album, you won't get the vibe of having the same song on
repeat for ten times. These few dips and bends are overshadowed by the sheer
brutality and suprisingly concrete, honest emotion, yet by the end you might
have hoped that they would have explored themselves a bit further than they
did. I don't find it necessary to get too much into it, but perhaps some slower
and muddier tracks along the way could've made a significant change to the
albums musical narration. Yes, there is slower, monumental riffs throughout,
but they tend to lead up to the same, fast-paced conclusion from time to time.
Not
to leave with a negative statement, "Undercurrent" is an album that
every grindcore/powerviolence aficionado should check out as soon as possible.
Highly akin to the kinds of Full of Hell and Nails, Friendship are bound to become a
house hold name in the scene as their predecessors. They've already managed to
generate a good amount of buzz within the last few years, and now on "Undercurrent"
they prove themselves to be hungrier than ever. Having the support of the
previously mentioned notable labels, there's no telling to where Friendship
will head off to from here.
