Split albums are a must in almost every hardcore band’s catalogue, and every hardcore geek has at least once bought a split 7″ or 12″ just for rare songs of one adored band, and then found the other side to be another casualty of bad pairing. When No Idea released Hot Water Music’s split, no one I knew bought it for the Clairmel side; on the Mineral split, I abhorred Sense Field; and on Equal Vision’s godawful One King Down split, well, let’s just say Spirit of Youth proved the more salvageable side.
The split album is a power struggle in many senses, when two bands are measured directly against the each other, and the weight of the combination is valued in a whole. Compromise is the antithesis to truly selfish, total artistic control; on the other hand, in the hardcore scene, to a sense of unity and commune, essential.
The Resurrection EP relays Norway’s most challenging, new expressions of hardcore. Though two totally different approaches, herein lies a unanimous desire for aggression and violence in a platter of hooks and gusty grooves.
Many who’ve shared the same American alt-noise rock affinity would agree that last year’s newcomers Haust still felt in its early stages; we measured them in terms of potential for growth from their debut Ride the Relapse. But by then, we could smell the cannons of power already waiting to explode — punchy hits like early Rye Coalition, a swagger like Volt’s early band Roerheads. They were the first focussed-groove noise-rock band in Norway since Noxagt, turning tricks like none other than the ‘Lizard. On this latest release, the band’s progression continues, though not radically from their debut. Standout tracks, “Hearse” and “A Final Effort”.
Flip to Next Life. With an eagerly awaited production with noplacetohide’s Anders Hangård on drums comes a formidable result. The record begins with a bleep, and warrior’s cry before tearing straight in; capturing us once again on an insane journey begun on an album reviewed last year, The Lost Age. Though most songs on this EP descend from the debut with exception “Anti Matter”, making its entirety also short-lived — anything longer seems like it’d detract the newfound, driving precision. Some explosive blast beats and old school mud-slingin’ sludge. Re-produced “Battle Tactics” at the right moment hits a dark groove with stylish drumming, before the signature Next Life keyboard interlude overturns the chorus. The feeling of a futuristic detachment has developed into a full-bodied organism. Its genuine progress towards what hemispheres and scopes we have yet to see; but there’s no denying there’s anything on the scene remotely close.
Here in the Bornean jungles of Malaysia, far removed from the icy valleys and misanthropies of the Oslo underground, I’m finding Fysisk Format’’s latest release more empowering and refreshing than ever. Like that Earache compilation “Gods of Grind” in ‘92, a split between Carcass, Cathedral, Entombed and Confessor. Nobody argued back then whether they were innovators of death and doom, they themselves had to declare it on that Western front. Similarly, Haust and Next Life together leave in a blaze of fire our old, generic notions of hardcore and invoke new, immense energies. Sometimes the combinations of like-minded bands can bulldoze their way through, staking territory, what’s theirs for definite.
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