Sunday, March 18, 2012

Record Review: Forever Young Victoria - "The Hardest Part of Ending is Starting Again"

Genre: Post Hardcore/Other
Country: Ruhrarea Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Band Website: bandcamp
Label: -

I'll be 100% honest with you: FYV's cover didn't exactly motivate me to listen to their album, at first. I find it a bit outdated, maybe too simple, if there is such a thing. But as the saying goes, we should never judge a book by its cover and, dear lord, was it the case with this German post hardcore band. As soon as I hit the play button, I was immersed in a world of beautiful discordance and artful dissonance that really struck a nerve with my already damaged nervous system.

FYV jump around with ease between the post hardcore, screamo and post rock genres, painting a mid-paced but pretty harsh and chaotic sonic landscape. The band has paid meticulous attention to its sound, with a warm 'n' fuzzy guitar tone, a treble-absorbing bass, as well as unpredictable and offbeat drum patterns to accompany the general chaos. Things are topped off with a crazy vocalist whose tortured wail balances between Bad Brains' HR and general screamo insanity.

Throughout the 9 songs of this recording, FYV keeps it fresh and manages to come off as a pretty underground band. There is nothing polished, pretentious or premeditated about FYV's harsh post  hardcore, even though the general outcome is cleverly coated with an overall, basic rock feeling. What you essentially get is the archetype rock band going for something different, and using the basic instruments in an interesting albeit not excessively technical manner. You wont find any sung choruses here, but if you are up for some Refused action going backwards to meet some Bad Brains rock, you won't be disappointed.

P.S. An extra thumbs up goes to the final track, which is a slow, ambient, instrumental rock anthem with beautiful post touches. I will be looking to hear more of that in intertwined with FYV's heavy riffs in the future.

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