Given there are a lot of noisy garage/screamo bands about making slightly abstract, slightly academic records, it will take something more than just leavening out the noise to make them stand out.
Given there are a lot of noisy garage/screamo bands about making slightly abstract, slightly academic records, it will take something more than just leavening out the noise to make them stand out.
http://www.zealrecords.com http://www.konkurrent.nl www.wearebelievo.com
I really like Believo!, they have a simple way of getting their message across. This isn’t my favourite record of theirs I have to say, but it’s worth giving a spin for the moments that do liven an otherwise subdued LP. Despite the crunching opener, It’s Now, which does everything it has to in telling you that it is indeed, “now” (in a manner that Francis Black would have been proud of I’m sure) and the tremendous howl of frustration of Summertime Sometimes, things are a bit different than on Radical Myths or In The Weekend. There’s a little more thought as to how the sound is presented and the songs are structured for a start. This attention to the more crafty elements of their trade – seemingly promoted at the expense of simply blasting out unfiltered rock and roll – always has the danger of making things seem less than exciting, and with a band that usually likes to smash through its music, (a band that primarily trades off that electric rush of noise) it does take some getting used to. Their inherent way with a melody is somewhat muted too, showing more reflection and reminiscence maybe means there are deliberate efforts to reign in the walls of guitar noise on tracks like Flag, Pure and Backstage in the 60’s efforts that backfire a bit. Or maybe it’s the songs themselves… I’m not sure.
Given there are a lot of noisy garage/screamo bands about making slightly abstract, slightly academic records, it will take something more than just leavening out the noise to make them stand out. But there’s something attractively uncomplicated about this Antwerp band that I keep coming back to, they have real vim and wit in tracks like the chiming, stomping clarion call of Superstructure, or the scratchy, nihilist lament like the title track, which is another thing entirely. So a mixed bag, but this lot are always worth a listen.