[B.ABUSE] - Erinnerungen und Vergänglichkeit

German post-crust experimental veterans [B.ABUSE] return with their fifth full-length release; 'Memories Of Better Days Are Gone'. Right from the opening track there is something unusual about this band, immediately blending rolling post-rock atmosphere with a cross between Neurosis' hoarse bellow and clean, Cure-like vocal inflections and punching, punk-touched drums. They seek to push the listener with tracks walking the mid-tempo tension line, building from the simplest foundations (in the case of the opener just two chords), and advancing in movements to a point of critical mass, sometimes a brief blastbeat, often a crescendo of noise.

This is a band that manage to summon sounds such as classic Godflesh, Voivod, The Jesus Lizard, Discharge etc and fuse it into dream-like chryssalis of noise. The refusal to disappear into self-congratulatory pretension is something that sets [B.ABUSE] aside from their contemporaries and certainly makes this album worth checking out. The band's ability to move between math type hardcore chord stabbing, tidal synth atmosphere and traditional metal riffing is consummate and profound.