Starkweather – This Sheltering Night
Epiphany
Swarm
Broken From Inside
Transmit
All Creatures Damned and Divine (Inducing Motion Sickness)
One Among Vermin
Receive
Bustuari
Proliferate
Martyring
The End of All Things
There’s something a bit odd when you listen to Starkweather, and it’s difficult to spot at first. And then it hits you; despite the intricacy of the drumming, despite the lumbering ‘One Amongst Vermin’, despite the sheer malice that permeates every song, there’s not much effort to make you get excited.
Let’s rewind to the start, and try and see what’s going on here While ‘Epiphany’ starts out at the point you’d hope to be when sludge and hardcore meet up for a final, world-ending “fuck, I hope Jesus turns up soon” apocalyptic moment, the fact the bass drums sound like a bored 8 year old hitting sofa cushions is a bit disappointing; the beating heart that should be anchoring these songs is somewhat muted. The fact the songs are defiantly non-conformist, with nary a friendly chorus or a beatdown to lure you in.
Don’t let that fool you: repeated listens reveal that ‘Bustiari’ is full of iron vigour, and that ‘Martyring’ is capable of destroying all in its path like the Incredible Hulk with a cactus up his huge green arse. And as a quick listen to their back catalogue would suggest, Starkweather have continued to move forward without looking back. All of which makes putting an arbitrary score up there under the album artwork a little difficult. Especially as listening to ‘Broken From Inside’ again just makes you realise what a sustained assault and multifaceted work it is. Expect to see this review rewritten in a few weeks.
Reviewed by Steve Jones
‘This Sheltering Night’ is out now on Deathwish Inc.
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