Review: Insect Warfare
Grindcore. Isn't it? Aren't they? Marvellous.
Even better when said grindcore pays a visit to our humble city and is of the world class quality hammered out by Houston outfit Insect Warfare, with Lesson No. 1 being our hosts for the evening upstairs in the newly expanded Buffalo.
As a band noted for playing few shows and wanting nothing more than to produce some quality noise then disband (as they did in 2008, but have reformed just for this farewell tour), Insect Warfare are/were a rare live sight in their home country, which made Friday night at Buffalo all the more worthy of attention.
A handful of punters who had arrived early shuffled forward to listen to Pus (**), a one (occasionally two) -man outfit here to replace last minute cancellations, Desecration, who had been tapped with the swine flu wand. An experimental 20 minutes it was too, with little more happening than an occasional strum of reverbed, distorted guitar and iffy vocal that was more student Chewbacca impression than anything. I'm sure he/they'll have more to offer in time, but as in the words of one Daniel Glover, I'm too old for this shit.
Atomk (***) were next up. We like Atomk. They're a pair of digicore nutjobs who do not care what folk make of their minute-long bursts of drum machine and speed guitar. Vocalist/machine operator Linus' voice is damn near grindcore perfection, while partner Luke is also a very good artist which is never a bad thing when marketing one's band. Their current release with Spider Kitten is an essential purchase and was reviewed here.
Insect Warfare (****) were not visually what we expected. Frontman Rahi allegedly quit on the eve of their departure from the States, and is replaced by a shaven-headed young man who does a stellar job in filling fairly roomy shoes. Their back catalogue got thrashed out, including all of the outstanding reissue that is World Extermination, along with some good ol' banter between guitarist/vocalist/frontman Beau Beasley and the pit (which included a group from Hamburg who had flown over to follow the entire UK tour).
IW's set wrapped after 25 minutes and ended with the announcement "that's it, we don't know any more" which was fine by all. Music this brutal was never meant to last.
Check out IW on Earache.
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