Review of Halt Ever's "Vicious Decor/Springsteen's Tears" + Re-Review of "Body Limits"
Halt Ever is a Post Punk band from melbourne, Australia, who have recently released a 10" in 2014 (which was my second favourite release of last year) and their new 7" "Vicious Decor/Springsteen's Tears", which was launched at the Liberty Social in February of 2015.
"Vicious Decor/Springsteen's Tears"
this 7" single, is noticeably different from their first release, the same air and vibe, but this time, they have come back with a more lo-fi, a noisier, harsher and angrier approach to the recording of these songs. very heavily effected with heavy delay and reverb over the top of the vocals, the interesting trade off of vocal duties of Josh and Jay, Josh singing on Vicious Decor, a more lamenting and moody song, almost reminds me of americana/blues style songs, with the guitar tone and apathetic melody, the feedback is harsh, Harry's bass is almost incomprehensible but the deep, dirty bassy tone comes through over the laden effects to bring that extra punch of powerful dynamic to these songs. it is almost perverse in my mind in a sense of dark brooding post punk. the drumming is incredibly solid, but breaks away from the typical post punk style into a more punk-y/aggressive style. Springsteen's tears on the other side is a much more angry, even much more heavily effected song, the bass reminds me of a japanese noise punk style or raw d-beat. the vocals are my favourite on this song, a lot of unexpected screaming and yelling from jay, mixed with the dive bombing pitch shifts of vocal delay. a really great 7".
"Body Limits"
I already reviewed this release in Vol.2, but I felt i need to re-review it as i don't think i really got to how i felt about it. also keeping in mind this was in my top 5 releases of last year, this 10" is a weaving, lamenting, almost ironic at times in the sometimes poppy songs, with these sad, pensive lyrics. the vocal duties are shared alot on these recordings, the Bass is still very distorted, but is quite cohesive and clear, but its very awesome. the tone isn't as sharp and harry goes for a more sub/deep tone instead of the harsher tone you hear on VD/ST. The drumming from Michael on this EP(?) is a lot more Post-Punky, but it is so powerful and passionate i can feel the intensity of every hit. The mood rises and falls in each track, forming a nice wave pattern so there is no way you could get bored of hearing this EP in its entirety. The vocals from Josh and Jay are mixed a lot higher in this release, and they are a lot more clearer as opposed to VD/ST, which isn't bad but is interesting to note the progression from post-punk into more noisy territory, for me i love it because i am a very big fan of noise etc etc. This record is sold out now, but you can still find it in various places/local record stores if you look hard enough, I know Lacklustre records still has a few copies also! I highly recommend this release, a good variety and intense tunes.