| CD REVIEW Rentokill |
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Band: Rentokill Not to be confused with the pest-control company by the similar name, Rentokill is a, Vienna based, Austrian Hardcore/ Punk band, which was founded in the year 1996. From the band members’ looks today, and the fact that I happen to know that they are strongly socio-politically aware (also into animal and human rights, and vegetarians/ veganists with an Anarchist Peace Punk background) makes me suspect that the band’s original teenager members mainly saw the band as an outlet for their aggravations with everything going wrong in the world today! Not surprisingly, the guys are also very much into the whole DIY thing, and their first demos (released in 1999 and 2001) were made with those ethics in mind. Then things started to rumble within the band, a line-up change occurred to make for the still valid membership of singer/ guitarist Jack, plus guitarist Lux, bassist Walter, and drummer Bertl (all of which also do backing vocals)! Their debut album Back To Convenience was first released through the small Austrian imprints Rise Or Rust and Broken Heart in 2004. Following tours in England and Germany, it then got re-issued through Engineer (for release in the UK & USA)and Vitaminepillen (Germany) during 2005. Further licencing got the album released in Japan (on In-N-Out) and Brazil (Enemy One during 2006. During that same year the guys released a split 10-inch titled Provokant Wertvoll, shared with Red Lights Flash (a Graz, Austria based Politically influenced Melodic Punk band), issued through Rise Or Rust, Broken Heart, and possibly some other partners (A-F Records , on which Red Lights Flash was the first Austrian band to be signed, comes to mind)…a release in support of which the two bands undertook a short tour in Austria & Germany during November. The band’s second full-length AntiChorus came through German label Rude Records, with support of Italy’s No Reason Records and of course Austria’s Broken Heart. During 2008 In-N-Out re-issued the album in Japan, and AntiChorus is soon to get released all over again by respected Canadian label Union Label Group. However, before that happens, there’s this The O.S.E. mini-album, a joint venture of Broken Heart (for Austria), No Reason (Italy), Horrorbusiness (Germany), Toybomb (Finland & Scandinavia), and of course Shield Recordings ( for the Benelux). Now, I ain’t sure whether all labels are gonna do the same thing, but Shield releases the 4-track mini-album as a 12-inch vinyl with CD insert, also bringing a limited collector’s edition with picture disc vinyl! The band’s music is a mixture of Hardcore and Punk, with some additional influences. During most of the sung passages, the pace is quite up-tempo, remeniscent of Bad Religion. In between, you can expect some calmer moments with occasonial atmospheric tendencies (really, to get what I’m speaking about clearly, you would need to actually listen to the music itself!), which are enhanced thanks to the somewhat harmonic backing vocals. The album is conceptual…but don’t ask me what it’s about exactly, because that info was lacking, and our CD-promo came without lyrics sheet…or at least so it the first side of the 12-inch, containing the tracks “The Object”, “The Subject”, “The End” (the last one seeing the band go into a 104-second acoustic track). In all, the 4 tracks only last just under 14 minutes, so you would have to be really motivated to spend the money needed to purchase this thingy (well, I’m not certain at what price it’s gonna be sold, so buying the album might not put you back too much in a monetary sense anyway)…and maybe you’d better listen to some of the band’s material first. To that effect, surf to myspace.com/rentokill, where you’ll mainly find stuff off their AntiChorus album! Come mid-March, the quartet sets off to Canada with High Five Drive for a tour which will see them play almost every night (21 dates confirmed with only 6 still to be filled) until mid-April. Upon their return they first have a Swiss gig with Propagandhi, and then set out on the road with High Five Drive again come mid-May for gigs in Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Germany, and Belgium (at De Zotte Mus in Antwerp on May 30). Rentokill then crosses the channel for a 1 ½ week of gigs in the UK again (their 3rrd tour over there, if I’m not mistaken). On their return home, they’re still looking to to fill some dates (Belgium, Luxembourg, Geermany, or even Austria), and will continue to play about (anywhere in Europe as long as it’s feasible with the rest of their schedule) during the rest of June and July (one further Belgian gig already confirmed at Hersent’s JH De Choke, on July 12)…for more infos, check the band’s MySpace page, okay? 90/100 Tony. |