Unhaim
Unhaim 12″ LP
“A really great debut 12’’ by this Swiss crust band is their second release since their formation in 2003 by members of Pack, Lost and Brutal Massacre. While not really sounding like Born Dead Icons, the eleven tracks here inhabits the same grimy corners of low-end down-tuning played at low-to-mid tempo, backed by a pounding solid drum beat and gravel vocals. Center-ing on dark mood as much as overdrive of straight ahead attack, it’s a powerful record in it’s a balance of dark, haunting riffs with simplistic brutal pounding and a unique that fulfills the conventions of genre but doesn’t fit easily packaged within them that it demands repeat lis-tens. The actual “packaging” however itself is a gimmick record to end all gimmick records: A 12’’ with a screen printed jacket with printing on the inside, a triple sided (with an alterna-tively playing grooved third “side”) mastering job, one side given wide bands like the original Initial State LP, with inscriptions between tracks and other unnecessary bells and whistle sil-liness that make it an interesting artifact…but leave me kind of unsure if any of these things really add to the overall experience, or just there to do something unique for its own sake. None distract from the music – luckily all the mastering tricks still leave you with a pretty loud record – lyrics are mostly in German except for the three “side C” tracks.” – Maximum Rocknroll