
Released by Michigan-based
cassette label Colloquial Sound Recordings, Plastic Fire is another impressive
feather in the label’s cap, who has been releasing some pretty evocative black
metal demos and splits over the last year or two, most notably by A Pregnant
Light and Dressed in Streams, and of course, This Station of Life’s searing
Antithetic demo tape.
While still
raw black in most aspects, this tape also fraternises with some eerie melody
that counteracts the non-production on the vocals, which are buried deep beneath
the blasts and muddled guitar assaults. Take a track like ‘My Hunger’, the last
song, where the vocals are almost non-existent but the riffs are almost…
catchy. In fact, it’s a lead riff that wouldn’t sound too out of place on a
Deafheaven track. All the while, you have the likes of ‘The Passion Gesture’,
which is just heaving with a punky callousness. It’s this dichotomy that makes
this entity, and this tape, so interesting.
The short
running time is both to its benefit and detriment. First, it’s concise with no
filler but second, it leaves behind a huge void, yearning to be filled. More
please.
8/10
**Label is from Grand Rapids, MI
ReplyDeleteThanks for the correction. Fixed now.
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