Review #235: Nippercreep - Test (2010)

TEST

Year: 2010
Genre: Heavy Metal/Hardcore Punk
Label: Chabane's Records
Tracks: 12
Length: 35 Minutes
My Rating: 5/8

Nippercreep is a French punk-metal band that formed in 2004. They were (I think) one of the first underground bands I ever discovered, around two years ago when I listened to their split with the Warblinkers. Nippercreep was better, though! Their musical style is a mix of hardcore punk and thrash metal... this release leans a bit more to the metal side. The band's current line-up (I believe; at least the one that recorded this album) is: Antoine (vox), Sylvain (guitar), Kevin (bass), and Germain (drums). This is the first full-length album from Nippercreep.

1. Proces
Begins with a rolling, galloping drumbeat and a menacing bass riff... the buildup explodes into CUM! I mean, THE FIRST VERSE! The vocals are pretty throaty-sounding, and I don't know French so I dunno what he's singing about it's probably something ABSOLUTELY BADASS, right?? The guitar part in the verse sections sound like a buncha little ghosts wandering around the room, about to strike an unsuspecting FUCKER IN THE ROOM. There's a short super-fast part in the song.

2. Inspiration
Starts out sounding completely awesome. It's got a slow blues tempo and an absolutely fucking sinister guitar riff. The verse is kinda quiet with some singing, and it orgasms in a huge scream with that crazed guitar melody again.

3. Faguebine
Goes back and forth from tingly to chugging and heavy. It's like traveling through that little bikepath in Urbana... like, some parts are sunny and full of tall grass and then you have to go under dark bridges and shit. I'm just saying shit, though. The vocals are like a (sid) vicious monster trying to jump up for a taste o' pure flesh!!

4. Radondingue
They're singing some phrases repeated over and over but I don't know what they are saying. I could learn French but English rock song lyrics can be as unintelligible as-is... that's your typical American for ya. This tune has some Black Sabbath-like qualities to it, especially in the earlier part of the song. In the second half of the song, the tempo gets faster and there's some heavy double-bass-pedal shit goin' on and what I would consider to be very cool soundin' guitar playing.

5. Clonage Psychologique
This song is quite fast and aggressive! The lead guitar melodies are near hypnotizing to listen to... I like the vocals of this band because even though the predominant form of vocals are screaming, the vocals have character to them and variate in pitch/intensity and such. I know, over-analyizing sucks but hey, you want my review, RIGHT???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, towards the end the song progressively slows down and becomes more discombobulated.

6. La Menthation
Some parts of this song are pretty upbeat and catchy and then other parts, like the verse sections are kinda gloomy but still charged with that rock & roll energy we all crave. It's very much like a song from Nirvana's first album. Gotta love the feel of angry stoned punk-hippie music. Or maybe they prefer L.S.D.?

7. Le Lievre La Tortue
This song drools with heavy metal fury! Gotta love it... feel the groove of the slow but potent beat and the twisted guitar melodies and powerful chords... then slam like a maniac at the fast outro part!
8. Hyper Noel
Frantic verse, with a slightly catchy chorus. Imagine a cat getting its throat slit. Such echoes the fury of Nippercreep. It's a pretty standard verse-chorus punk song.

9. Mister Mystere
MISTER MYSTEREEEEE... HE'S A MYSTEREOUS MAN WHO LIVES IN A SPOOKY HOUSE THAT LITTLE KIDS GO VISIT ON HALLOWEEN AND THEN THEY GET KILLED WHEN ALL THEY REALLY WANTED WAS SOME CANDY TO EAT! The chords here are hot! Some parts are less up-beat and that's okay because they seep with other things that are, well, HOT. Not hot as in high-temperature or sexually attractive, hot as in ROCKIN'! Of course, there's an obligatory thrash section that the band plays after their cocaine kicks in... they've been speedballing. Cocaine and heroin. HEY EVERYONE, GUESS WHAT???

NIPPERCREEP DOES DRUGS!

NIPPERCREEP DOES DRUGS!

NIPPERCREEP DOES DRUGS!

NIPPERCREEP DOES DRUGS!

NIPPERCREEP DOES DRUGS!

NIPPERCREEP DOES DRUGS!

NIPPERCREEP DOES DRUGS!

NIPPERCREEP DOES DRUGS!

NIPPERCREEP DOES DRUGS!

A POLICE MAN LIVES ACROSS THE STREET FROM ME

NIPPERCREEP DOES DRUGS!

NIPPERCREEP DOES DRUGS!

NIPPERCREEP DOES DRUGS!

NIPPERCREEP DOES DRUGS!

NIPPERCREEP DOES DRUGS!

NIPPERCREEP DOES DRUGS!

NIPPERCREEP DOES DRUGS!

Alright, alright, I'll stop...

10. Alias Dr. House
Slow and heavy. The loud chords come and beat ya down... you can writhe, begging for mercy or you can roll with the rhetorical punches. Nice chorus. The second half of the song is faster. Nice usage of palm mutes... palm mutes usually sound best with fast music.

11. Drancy Sweet Drancy
Another slow song... alternates between being kinda quiet and loud. BOING... DOING... BOIING... DOING...

12. C'est Fini
From the intro of the song, you wouldn't expect this to be one of the wildest moments of the whole album... after a few moments of somber droning, the music explodes into a scream the music is fast and wild as fuck! I love it!! Great way to end the album, for sure.

Well, I thought this was a pretty good listen. If you want to hear this music which I am speaking of, you can download it for free off of the Chabane's Records website right here:

http://chabanes-rds.blogspot.com/

You can find many other free records as well there from other bands around the world! AROUND AND AROUND AND AROUND, WHEEEEEE!!!!! Well, that's all I have to say for now, check out this album, pleeze.

Top 3 Favorites:
1. Mister Mystere
2. C'est Fini
3. Inspiration

Review #163: SS Kids - Humans Punks (EP) (1985)

HUMANS PUNKS (EP)

Year: 1985
Genre: Hardcore Punk
Label: None
Tracks: 4
Length: 7 Minutes
Style: Political
My Rating: 5/8

SS Kids were a french hardcore punk group in the 1980s from Dunkerque. The band later released a single as "Human Being", but this is their first record and there's not much info on the band, but it's pretty good...

1. Chemical War
Starts out with the sounds of the band members coughing... probably from all o' those KEMIKALZ! It's mildly speedy and it has a cool beat. Catchy but typical shout-along chorus.

2. Disorder
Faster than the first song. Group-shouted vocals. Kind of a cool growl sort of thing they do at the end of a sung line. I think one of the members of the band may be female. They're actually singing "DISORDER" in the chorus in a French accent so they don't really pronounce it right. That's the end of Side A.

3. Why Not
This one has a cool, energetic-sounding guitar riff. The beat is pretty similar to the first song. "WHY NOOOOOOOAWAWAWAWUUUGH". Pretty cool vocals, here.

4. Get Out
Really cool riff and a fast but awesome beat. The bassline sounds just like one I tried using for a song I wrote that I eventually scrapped because the recording of it sounded awful. But if this doesn't get you dancing or at least bobbing your head, then I dunno what will...

So, that's the end. I dunno if the members of the band went onto anything great other than the one other 7" they did and the name change, but who knows? I give this record a 5/8 (sorry, rating-haters) because it's entertaining to listen to but they're just another standard hardcore band and they don't really offer anything new at all that I couldn't get from another band. At least they sound like they were having fun doing it, though... sometimes the fun transfers over to the listener; that's what I find. But it's decent and if you have the time, give it a listen. Do it for Chuck. NOW. NOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.




(bye)

Review #34: Vendetta - Kiss My Fist (EP) (2009)

KISS MY FIST (EP)

Year: 2009
Genre: Punk Rock
Sub-Genres: Hardcore, Noise
Label: FastMade Recordings
Tracks: 7
Length: 12 Minutes (Short)
Style: Angry/Weird
My Rating: 6/8

Vendetta, one of the various bands from the European noise-punk scene (I'm not too keen on using "grunge" to describe bands that play faster music), formed in 2007, and the band is from France. I do not know a whole ton about them, except that the band incorporates elements of noise-rock and hardcore into their sound, and it's quite nice. This EP is up for listen on the band's MySpace page, as well as some demos and a live cut.

1. Outside Girl
Starts relatively cleanly, until that clean-ness is destroyed by fucking DIRTY guitars and yelling. This song sounds pretty Black Flag-inspired to some degree, but places more emphasis on the raw speed, noise, and energy. I can't understand the lyrics 'cause this band sings in a different language, but I can describe the song... aggressive, distorted, and noisy.

2. Bands Beach
I really like this one. As the title might imply, listening to this song makes me think about walking along a beach at night time. It's an instrumental track. A slower beat than the previous track, and some psychedelic, peaceful-sounding guitars. It gets REALLY grungy right at the very end. It's a pretty song, though.

3. Run Run Run
This is a fast song. More drunk-sounding singing from Gotch, the band's vocalist and guitarist. Very thrashy and distorted.

4. Bloody Blow Yet
Another instrumental. Starts with a peaceful-sounding guitar intro. The drum-beat fades in, and the guitars get more aggressive and distorted. While initally slow, the song speeds up and there are phaser effects implemented. The song alternates between fastness and slowness.

5. TAB in Hell
My least favorite song on the record. It's still alright, though. It's fast and heavy, like the first track.

6. Psychotic Reaction
Fastest song on the album! Starts with a very fast beat, and then there's some singing. It's a very slam-dancy sorta song. They made a music video for this song.

7. 0$ Jam
ANOTHER instrumental. Basically a total noise-fest that alternates between very fast and very slow. Pretty neat to listen to... unfortunately... that's all there is on this album! It's over!

In my opinion, Vendetta seems like a band with a lot of potential. They actually remind me of hardcore punk and noise-punk a lot more than grunge, yet they don't seem like they're clinging to any specific cliche or stereotype, and they have a lot of original elements. I just wish there was more... hopefully they'll do some more releases! The album reminds me the most of the Meat Puppets and Black Flag circa the early '80s. If you like those bands, you should check these guys out. Also, these guys are huge Nirvana fans, and there's a few Nirvana elements as well, so it's pretty good. It's a fresh, exciting soup of psychedelic punk madness!
MySpace URL: www.myspace.com/bloodybloodyet

MUSIC VIDEO FOR "PSYCHOTIC REACTION"

Vendetta Psychotic Reatcion 1er CLIP

VENDETTA | MySpace Music Videos