Tangaroa - Tangaroa EP
2003 - self released.
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Tangaroa website.
This EP is practically the most faithful aural personification of schizophrenia committed to plastic. Alternating between disturbing atmospheric tracks of dark ambience and industrial noise and full-on assaults of raging, technical extremity that switches from black metal, technical death metal, grind, noisecore and fretboard-melting finger gymnastics in the space of a few seconds, this is clearly not a disc to slap on in the background.
Starting with the violins, drones and odd samples of 'Before The Future Has Begun' which sets a particularly unsettling mood, the metal then kicks in with the unhinged fury of 'Cowardice Towards A Princess' - the closest description I can come to is if you picture Converge, Cradle Of Filth and the Dillinger Escape Plan engaged in a knife-fight whilst locked in the back of a mini-bus which is rolling sideways down a hillside... which is brilliant, obviously.
Then comes another exercise in unsettling noisescapage, 'Standing In A Room, Asleep For Days'. A bit of a breathing space between the metal tracks, this one consists of a vaguely arrhythmic drum beat clanging away incessantly, while bass and samples add the requisite psycho atmos.
Next, the crowning glory of the disc - 'Stricken Saint, Slave To Murder'. Frantic riffage, a song structure that here lurches and crawls, there jumps at your throat like a rabid Rottweiler given PCP in his food bowl, and perhaps the most malevolent, genuinely pissed off sounding track cut by a band in many a moon.
Finally, another atmospheric noisescape to lead off the EP and we're done - left breathless and somewhat bemused, but wanting to hear more.
9/10
2003 - self released.
By Philip Whitehouse
Go to the Tangaroa website.
This EP is practically the most faithful aural personification of schizophrenia committed to plastic. Alternating between disturbing atmospheric tracks of dark ambience and industrial noise and full-on assaults of raging, technical extremity that switches from black metal, technical death metal, grind, noisecore and fretboard-melting finger gymnastics in the space of a few seconds, this is clearly not a disc to slap on in the background.
Starting with the violins, drones and odd samples of 'Before The Future Has Begun' which sets a particularly unsettling mood, the metal then kicks in with the unhinged fury of 'Cowardice Towards A Princess' - the closest description I can come to is if you picture Converge, Cradle Of Filth and the Dillinger Escape Plan engaged in a knife-fight whilst locked in the back of a mini-bus which is rolling sideways down a hillside... which is brilliant, obviously.
Then comes another exercise in unsettling noisescapage, 'Standing In A Room, Asleep For Days'. A bit of a breathing space between the metal tracks, this one consists of a vaguely arrhythmic drum beat clanging away incessantly, while bass and samples add the requisite psycho atmos.
Next, the crowning glory of the disc - 'Stricken Saint, Slave To Murder'. Frantic riffage, a song structure that here lurches and crawls, there jumps at your throat like a rabid Rottweiler given PCP in his food bowl, and perhaps the most malevolent, genuinely pissed off sounding track cut by a band in many a moon.
Finally, another atmospheric noisescape to lead off the EP and we're done - left breathless and somewhat bemused, but wanting to hear more.
9/10
