I think I need some epinephrine, quickly. I feel as if I have been mauled and mangled and hit with a blunt instrument repeatedly. Then my heart stopped bleeding and my eyes bulged out and a single moment felt like a couple of hours, while my life drifted past me and I realized: mankind equals shit, evolution is going in the wrong direction and finally, not too far away, everything will end in a big pile of stinking shit. It is take or break time and it might be for another two millenniums. The cold is already creeping up on me. I hear the best walking the earth.
Anaphylactic Shock describe their music as a kind of doomy rock with extreme vocals. But yet it is so much more, mostly because that description does not sound heavy, but it is. (In this respect the Onlinde-Database my player gets his info from is more correct with tagging this album “heavy metal”, which goes to show that trying to be more right makes you turn out wrong anyway.) “2000 years” contains a sludgy, downtuned miserable beast of heavy rock with vocals that can’t decide between screaming and growling, and may be something that you don’t want to encounter late at night in a dark alleyway. The sound is distorted and dense, pounding and punishing the way you would expect it.
What makes this band’s music stand out is the self evidence and the and ease with which they tread in the mid- to low tempo area. Most bands would try to hide their lack of whatever and their will to be very extreme in either playing totally slow or totally fast – both of which becomes obvious and boring after a time, unless for the best of the best of each competition. Anaphylactic Shock stay cosily in the burning hell of midtempo where they melt the extreme visions of dark and psychotic hardcore (does anybody remember the term crust?) with the darkness and evil of classic metal. A fine mixture, perfect to set fire to something, be it the system or your sofa.
Where this band is headed lyrically, is easy to track down: on to a rather bleak and misanthropic future. Take “The future floats bleak and ugly” as a hint before chosing “death over life” or even “abandon all hope”. And there probably is still this point to make over and over again, that most of what is happening seems to go into the wrong direction, that life is shit for most people and that happy-go-lucky indie-bands with meaningless lyrics won’t ever cut the crap and effect any kind of meaningful change. On the other hand, the main reason for a lot of things being so shitty is that god or nature have a weird sense of humour and that’s all. I mean, what is evolution’s / intelligent design’s reason for Paris Hilton? Who in his right mind could ponder this paradoxon and not start stabbing people in a shopping mall? You got the point.
Final note: Neurosis will never again make a record as groundbreaking and devastating and influential as “World of Pain” or “Souls at Zero”, so it is probably a good idea for the fans to move on as well. After all, Neurosis are still a fucking force to be reckoned with, if mostly live, because their new albums tend to drag a wee bit. And then some. But with evil monsters as this one around, it is pretty easy to get your dose of nightmares now and again.
From the decaying bowels of Dutch hardcore comes a fresh musical beast. Dark without being pretentious, harsh without being hateful, dirty without being repulsive. Like most trouble, it was raised in a small basement, cluttered by broken amps and empty bottles. It’s early 2007, and within mere months after being spawned, the beast emerged as a potent monster, ready to lurk the downtrodden streets of the Low Countries. Blackened by years of prowling around in the dark underbelly of the Netherland’s extreme counterculture, serving time in bands like Union Town, No Turning Back, Restless Youth and Dead Rivers, ANAPHYLACTIC SHOCK are now set to leave their deadly mark.
Through the drug inflicted undergrowth and fantastical thickets of dark imagination comes “2000 years”, the debut of the elusive Tilburg-based quartet. Downtuned and monstrous, with guitar riffs that leap out of the speakers, “2000 years” charges forward with the brutal angst of Tragedy and Cursed, whilst maintaining a mesmerizing combination of the punishing vocal sensibilities of Darkthrone and the compelling groove of Entombed. ANAPHYLACTIC SHOCK aren’t necessarily doing a whole lot new, but they’re taking the genre to a new level, perfecting the loud, the fast and the dirgey. The band enrolled Patrick Delabie (known for producing Restless Youth, White Circle Crime Club, Rubbish Heap, etc.) to help with tones in the studio. Mixing and mastering was left in the skilled hands of Vincent Koreman (The House of Destructo, The Travoltas, The Apers).
The outcome is simply gargantuan.
Vocals that manage to chronicle the evils of the world in a way that never patronizes, nor detracts from the unbridled musical rage of his bandmates. The guitar work unites the raw d-beat style of bands like Disfear and Tragedy, with the doom-laden offering of classic bands like Pentagram or Black Sabbath, and contemporaries like Entombed or High on Fire. The rhythm section has clear roots in their aggressive hardcore past, showing zero concessions, taking on a new life and pushing the beast onward more urgently than ever.
Despite its brief time of existence, ANAPHYLACTIC SHOCK already shared the stage with High On Fire, Lair Of The Minotaur, Capricons, Wolves In The Throne Room, Cursed and label mates Amenra. Friends and foes alike, in the coming years, “2000 years” strength will win converts, even among those who will initially jump ship, scared of the uncompromising assault on their senses.
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Stop by our MySpace site and listen to the latest tunes from OPERA DIABOLICUS, featuring SNOWY SHAW (King Diamond, Mercyful Fate, Therion, Notre Dame, Dream Evil etc), MATS LEVÈN (Yngwie Malmsteen, Therion, Krux etc) and NICK NIGHT (Dream Evil) among others...
“One day, men will look back and say we gave birth to the twenty first century” – OPERA DIABOLICUS
Stop by our MySpace site and listen to the latest tunes from OPERA DIABOLICUS, featuring SNOWY SHAW (King Diamond, Mercyful Fate, Therion, Notre Dame, Dream Evil etc), MATS LEVÈN (Yngwie Malmsteen, Therion, Krux etc) and NICK NIGHT (Dream Evil) among others...
“One day, men will look back and say we gave birth to the twenty first century” – OPERA DIABOLICUS
