Disclose / Framtid
Chainsaw Tour '04 Split
Whispers in Darkness

As many of you probably know, this past fall the US was supposed to have been annihilated by a full US tour from d-beat masters Disclose, with the almighty Framtid accompanying them on select dates. Unfortunately, Framtid never made it over here at all, and Disclose could only do an abbreviated tour of just the west coast, but despite the tour itself falling through, this record remains to document what could have been.

Framtid are up first, and they deliver three tracks of the burly d-beat you're no doubt familiar with thanks to the copy of their recent, already-classic Under the Ashes LP that you spent way too much money on on ebay. While it feels somewhat silly to talk about the minutiae regarding bands who play this style (usually, either it works or it doesn't and that's hard to pin that down on any one factor), but the one thing I love about these tracks is just how heavy and driving they are. Framtid almost remind me more of Motorhead than Discharge here, barrelling forward with seemingly limitless momentum.

However, as much as I love the Framtid side, the Disclose stuff on this split is just fucking sick. If you ask me, the band has been on a total roll since they started playing in their "Disbones" style (i.e. Disclose playing like Broken Bones), and everything they've done recently (most of which has been compiled on the Yesterday's Fairytale, Tomorrow's Nightmare LP) has been nothing but raw fucking brilliance. Disclose get so much shit for supposedly being derivative, but with this most recent stuff they've taken this style to a whole new level, combining one of the most perfect guitar sounds ever recorded with noisy (almost artsy!) production, near-tuneless avant-noise guitar solos and deceptively catchy vocals and song structures. Disclose are just the total fucking package, and if you say you like d-beat and you don't like this stuff you're either wrong about one of those things or the other, plain and simple.

As for the record itself, it comes housed in a beautiful booklet-type sleeve that features a large photo collage and a short interview with each band. And, of course, the thing is strictly limited edition so all of your crusty friends will be jealous as shit of you in six months' time when this is fetching the big money on ebay. So get off your ass and get this from one of the few distros who still have it, because there are few more essential bands than Disclose and Framtid making hardcore these days.

Posted by Daniel at 02:21 AM