April 18, 2011

Be Prepared: Wartgore Hellsnicker | Moderate Rock EP | 30 May

Wartgore Hellsnicker -- Moderate Rock
Maniacally groovy and largely unhinged extended play release from a shadowy Watford, England-based collective centered around a chap named Paul Terris. Maybe. The six-year-old band's bio is pocked with extended blackouts, 50 shows here, a release party for a never-released record there, no personnel. One press quote charmingly deems Wartgore Hellsnicker "music for people that don't like other people." But the recordings -- four on this EP, to be released at the end of next month by determined foot-shooter Audio Antihero -- are solid gold. Wartgore Hellsnicker brutally propounds an SST-flavored guitar attack abetted by an RFTC-esque horn section (that conjures occasional klezmer outbursts) and topped by a shouter on par with the guy from Archie Bronson Outfit. It's aural ambrosia for the disaffected. Listening to Moderate Rock will make you want to get a tattoo on your neck.

Every song is a winner, but we're particularly partial to the thoroughly bracing third track "Ten To Two," which we've embedded below. Despite the title not being available for another six weeks, Moderate Rock has apparently already conquered one digital distributor's sales charts (meaning Audio Antihero label head Jamie Halliday may have to scrap all those business cards that read "specialists in commercial suicide"). The EP was snuck into racks at Rough Trade in time for Record Store Day, and it looks like you can still buy it there. The digital version can already be procured at Bandcamp right here, and if we're reading the words right, if you buy the digital Audio Antihero will send you the CD when it gets its hands on some. Buy this record, or get a hammer and just start hitting yourself in the face.

We'll tell you when you can stop.

No comments: