Shikari
1999-2003
6.9
Crusty, screamy and altogether…grindy, I guess. Though really this is much more straight hardcore than metal. The breakdowns are metallic enough, but it’s certainly more interested in emotional than musical battery. I tried to look for some info on the band but all I could find was that they are German and hardcore, the latter of which is pretty obvious. Apart from that, my ears tell me the singer is probably a female, the band has a good sense of the dramatic for a crusty grind hardcore band. They get positively Neurosis - and I mean old Neurosis, as in “Black” - sometimes. That sense of drama really lifts the record, in my opinion.
The constant pummeling doesn’t irritate me but it’s probably not something most metal geeks want to put up with. But if you do, or you have a good grounding in the old English hard/noise core, you will be fairly pleased with this disc. The songs have a great movement and force behind them. It may come off as noisy thrashing, but underneath it is a current of interesting and provocative songwriting.
As far as production and musicianship, well, crusty hardcore grind stuff is not all that concerned with these things. The band is more than able to carry off their vision, and the production is suitably non produced, but not to the point it sounds like fucking black metal or something. This seems to be a comp of older recordings, and some come off better than others, but the spirit is constant.
In the end this is not a very metal record and will appeal mainly to the above mentioned ex-real-punk types, grind fans and those who really want something punkish NOW but can’t find it anywhere. I think the average metalhead will find it irritating, although occasionally interesting. It’s a good record for what it is, and if they grow as much as Neurosis did - and it sounds like they could - this could be the start of something very interesting indeed.
