We have a live one. Ontario's Karloff (yes, named after the actor) is a hardcore band who draws inspiration from noise and post-hardcore- way more than you'd expect. Their debut is very scramzy with nods to quieter forms of '90s indie rock sprinkled throughout. And fuck, do they love complex rhythms. Like, your neck could seriously develop a thread like a screw trying to follow the direction that some of these tracks take. It's almost like they want to be a hardcore-jazz hybrid of some kind. Which, honestly, they should just go for it because there are so few of those kinds of groups to speak of- virgin soil if you will. As it is though, Karloff has a winning oeuvre that reeks of potential- both realized, and waiting to be fulfilled. A track like "Abre Los Ojos" sounds like City of Caterpillar, reduced to rubble and ash by a volcano, with the remaining debris scattered to the wind by a series of tornados, or belched into the air by a row of geysers- it has a relentless, tremulous quality to it that never lets you get your footing and keeps shacking you to your knees every time you think you do. "Fortune Harbour" starts out with a persistent and berating slap of anguished vocals and guitars, which smooths out into a pensive groove for the midsection only to bristle out into chaos and autophagic feedback for the finale. The anguished thrust of "Sun" singes for sure and I'm pretty swept up by the Cave In-styled satellite signal radiation that permeates "Ocean or other." Karloff has my attention with this one. I don't give out scores, but Karloff's debut gets two out of two bent and bruised ears from this very happy dude.
Out on Zegema Beach Records.
