Monday 26 October 2015

Attan - 'From Nothing' EP (Review)

By: Hunter Young

Album Type: EP
Date Released: 30/11/2015
Label: Shelsmusic



The ferocity never waivers, never pulls its hand away from your throat. Attan have given a dirty peak into their troubled souls, and it's already leaving track marks. ‘From Nothing’ will leave you spent and shaking, but it's just so easy to press play again....

‘From Nothing’ DD//LP track listing:

1). Nocebo (I Shall Harm)
2). Lost Words of The Mothkeepers
3). Full Circle/Full Stop
4). Black Liquid Marrow
5). Edward

The Review:

Except for almost all that is (genre) core, mixed methods are exactly that on inspection: mixed. However, out of this cesspool we have dredged a fresh body: ‘From Nothing’ by Attan, who forge a new deadly sound out of Black Metal and metallic Hardcore.

Pulling both of these genres together breathes quite a bit of ferocious life into the resulting offering, and Attan harkens back to the days of the budding hardcore scene where bands would rip your face off wherever they could fit their equipment. The energy involved in this album is undeniable, and their sound wouldn't be out of place in an industrial plant or a skatepark. This sound doesn't care; it just demands your attention no matter the setting.

‘From Nothing’ is absolutely heavy. Let's get that out of the way. This album is low frills, all brutal, and combines the absolute hurricane of fists and blast beats of hardcore with the bleached bone tone and vicious riffage of black metal. Its antifreeze syrup and it's forced fed with a frothing smile as they pummel away through 23 minutes of broken ice, raw as hell vocals, and a scalding delivery that will take your breath away from the first bar to the last. Attan waste no time, and they want you to get as pissed as they are IMMEDIATELY. 

‘From Nothing’ rolls from slow to fast like the way a predator stalks: fast when it has no concern for being known, and ambling along just above your tasty head. And then it explodes when it pounces. All the tracks are delivered aggressively, but no two are alike. Attan don’t repeat themselves, so don't ask. The "radio song", ‘Black Liquid Marrow’, is the most indicative of their purpose, ploughing through listeners like an armoured truck with no brakes. They slam forward with the only direction being THAT WAY, basically grating their guitars along the insides of your ears, and then slowing it down to give you the eye of the storm before they push you down again. Another fun time is the previous track, ‘Full Stop’, having all the energy of a violent mental breakdown in an office building. It's methodical, unhinged energy pushes further and further with no resolve for the anxious battery of music pumping out at you. 

Attan ends the album with the track ‘Edward’, which feels like a sludgy grunge style song for all of the excruciating 7+ minutes. It rolls up like the sleeve of a junkie, and they push their needle in slowly until about the four and a half minute mark. The ferocity never waivers, never pulls its hand away from your throat. Attan have given a dirty peak into their troubled souls, and it's already leaving track marks. ‘From Nothing’ will leave you spent and shaking, but it's just so easy to press play again....


‘From Nothing’ is available here for preorder from 03/11/2015

FFO: Converge, Emperor, Neurosis, Will Haven and VOD

Band info: facebook