Plenty is written by, and of, bands of young men proclaiming discontent, boredom and desperation at the background they’ve risen from and the grinding monotony that’s stifling their youthful creativity. Much of this is neutered, unspecific drivel unworthy of the attention of others. Occasionally, this despair will be articulated verbally, or musically, with such stunning clarity of purpose that it takes you aback. Guess which of the two Bastions’ new EP is?
The Island of the title is Anglesey, Bastions’ home, and their first EP for the Holy Roar label (Rolo Tomassi, Dananananaykroyd, Gallops! etc) after a brace of self-released mini-albums crams a short life’s worth of furious antipathy into less than ten minutes’ pummelling hardcore. It’s really good. The title track bursts in on a galloping riff, breakneck drumming and throat-scraping vocals, drops out into breakdowns lined with controlled feedback, then sets off chasing Converge down dark alleys while noodly guitar lines snake around them. ‘Soar’ continues the raging pace, guttural roars stretching out the last syllables of each verse to excellent effect. Crunching stop-start riffs churn over a bellowed ‘soar on‘ refrain as the song tempo-shifts manically, out of their control. ‘Ignorance breeds!‘, Jamie cries, as it derails into a wall of feedback.
Flip the EP and find ‘The Great Unwashed’, epic by comparison, ominous and blackened. Downtuned guitars, sludgy bass distortion and slow, deliberate drums battering away like a persistent bailiff open out into a wall of post-metal noise more reminiscent of Mastodon than the earlier Dillinger-style rush. There’s palpable fear and loathing of the road ahead for the protagonist, eyeing up the hordes; “If I don’t get out, I’ll end up as you… the great unwashed“. There’s a different kind of tension in these words, less raw, more pleading, and the music behind him is stripped back appropriately before tearing into a final realisation. “I can see myself in you, that’s what scares me the most“. It’s undeniably effective and a pretty straightforward cry to the self; get me out of here or I will not forgive you. The sound is freezing at this point, a finely tuned sheet-metal noise, its chugging riffs echoing the cloaking stasis dragging him down. Bastions’ will should see them move beyond these limits swiftly and emphatically.
Island Living is available on 7″ and MP3 from http://bastions.bigcartel.com/. Bastions play Sŵn this Friday 22nd October in the Chapter Arts Centre Stiwdio, 9pm – 9.30pm.
