Words by Jimmy Glinster
With an EP title like Scamdemic, I’m hoping to fuck this isn’t some rant about COVID, because to be honest I’m sick to fucking death of hearing about it. Especially from the whack job experts on the far-flung edges of both sides of the discussion.
Anyway, let’s not dwell on this because I’m hoping I’m not about to hear 20 odd minutes of it. Oh, and before I forget, FCK CRNA.
Born Again Hypocrite kick off the EP with a quick little thrash riff to introduce us to the opening track, Death x 1000 Cuts. Some nice clean production lets us hear the thrash and groove riffs delivered over solid bass and drums. The vocals are somewhere between a clean delivery and broken scream. Not so clean you’d think it’s Justin Timberlake, but not so heavy that’d you’d turn it off because you’ve heard that same old shitty guttural scream a billion times before.
Track 2 Headless opens with an ad for online investments, wait … what? Who the fuck monetizes their You Tube vids when sending them for industry review and promotion? First strike, two more, and you’re out gents! So, back to the song after I skip the ad. Headless is an absolute thrasher. Thrashy thrashy, chuggy chug. Yeah, boys, you may have just saved yourselves. Oh, but what’s this, a clean melodic chorus. Nice twist, well played!
And then another ad, seriously, this is painful. Witch Hunt, you bet it will be if these ads continue. Not sure where this track fits into the million and one metal genres these days, but I’m just gonna go with heavy. Thrashy guitars, double kicks, thick bass, screams and then some spoken word followed by some cleans. The track covers a few different sub-genres, but I’d probably slot it in somewhere in the Groove Metal or Metalcore ones.
No Cost Solar, fuck yeah … but what the fuck has that got to do with this EP? Fuck all, and that’s the third strike. Lucky this isn’t baseball though, so I’ll push through as much as this EP review, and it’s monetized advertising is starting to waste my precious time.
One Desire has a cool little twiddly riff which carries us through most of the song. Semi- rapped verses integrate with clean choruses to give us an interesting blend of heavy, rhythmic, and melodic. Online Pokies then take over the song with an unexpected and very weird interlude. Oh wait, that’s just another ad.
Hide Yourself, well maybe try hiding your ads first, that’d be nice. At least this song is pretty cool, with a more punky/hardcore feeling to it. A tasty chug section drags us out of a melodic bridge and into a nice little guitar solo. Cool track, I was really enjoying it until it finished, and I scored myself an ad for some insurance mob. Nek minnut, they are telling me I’m a fat prick and I should do less cardio. They are right about both those things, but I’m not sure how one helps the other.
And here it is, the title track Scamdemic. Shit, it’s a bit of a thrash banger straight off the bat, but then it takes that clean melodic twist again for the chorus. This is maybe Post Hardcore, maybe EMO? I’m not sure, but it is heavy, and those choruses are actually pretty damn catchy. The song pulls back into a thumping tom section with spoken word lyrics and then busts into a guitar solo and melodic riff-off which lead us to the end of the track, and the EP.
Despite the ads every 3 minutes, I actually quite enjoyed this one, and I’m a bit shattered that I wasn’t able to make it to Shredfest today to check these guys out. Good mix of heavy genres without going too far in any specific direction. And, all the while staying within the realms of heavy commercial viability.
Just wondering, though, is the Scamdemic all the ads?
Check out the album here https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5lPj_087LUWiTsxZmeqwUL4xHpwHqTol
