| CD REVIEW Soul Control |
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Band : Soul Control Based in Providence, Rhode Island, Post-Hardcore/Punk quartet Soul Control (henceforth indicated as SC) was formed in the Fall of 2006 by members of Verve and What Feeds The Fire. In late 2007, they released a non-cd-R full-length, compiling all their old songs plus 5 new ones…the music of which was described as “…few others touch upon such a striking hybrid of influences and themes. One of their peers, Lion Of Judah, had done a good job, refreshing job of this, sporting the same Bad Brains nods, but where their striking difference lies in the integration of Fugazi’s angularity, SC have earned a wealth of deserved Burn comparisons for their foundation of early 1990s Revelation Records acts…” (punknews.org). Around the same time as their self-release, the band struck a deal with small imprint Rivalry Records for the release of a vinyl 7-inch in May 2008, with a split 7-inch with I Rise to follow shortly after. During Winter (late December 2007 to early January 2008), the band joined Blacklisted and Shipwreck for a 14-date European tour! Then, in April of 2008, former singer Matt Amore drops a bomb by stepping out of the band, and this 6 weeks before the guys were to go on a tour with Lie And Wait in June (actually, it also messed up an 8-date tour with 108 & I Rise, which was to take place from late April to early May). For whatever controversial reasons he might’ve quit, he however expressed his wish that the band should continue, and the remaining trio of guitarist Jim Connolly, bassist Eric Anagnostis, and drummer Rian Pitz weren’t about to go back on their already planned Summer tours anyway…so only two weeks after Amore had gone, he was replaced by Rory Vangrol, previously of How We Are and Achilles. With him, SC would have the chance to re-invent themselves up to a certain point, and eventually records 4 new tracks intended to be issued as one release on some label. Somehow none is apparently found brave enough to dare to do so…and so, the band eventually announces their plans to self-finance the release (on a limited, 500 copy-rotation) of the 4 songs as 4 one-song singles through 4 different labels, the covers of which were to make up one larger image. While waiting to have the releases to happen in Nov. of 2008, they find out Poison The Well suddenly “stealing” their idea (actually guys, that trick had been done before, you know, so it wasn’t really fair to point the finger that way!!!). In March 2009 the band sings with Bridge Nine, who sent out the following statement about the band’s music: “…with a sound that started out as more straight-forward mid-‘90s influenced Hardcore, the quartet has emerged…” (after their change od frontman) “…with a noisier, looser influence from Amrepbands…” (meant here are bands from the Amphetamine Reptile roster) “…like early Helmet and Jesus Lizard while still staying rooted in their Hardcore roots…” …which goes to give a somewhat pictoral description of the band’s music (I mean, I could hardly have put it better, so why not use the darn statement…as long as I give credit for it, eh?). Following a tour with 108 in April (remember they botched one the year before), the band went into the studio with Jay Maas in May to record the 12 songs (and two hidden tracks) you’ll find on the album. But just before that they made the song files of the 4 singles available through myspace.com/soulcontrolhc! The track-list includes re-recorded versions of the songs they had just used for those 4 one-song singles, and in all honesty, I’m not sure whether there’s really any new material on the album at all…except perhaps for the hidden track, which is an acoustically played thinghy (acoustic guitar…might be a banjo, or otherwize an electric guitar played at minimum distortion…tambourine, and even a very short bit of piano towards the end, if I’m not mistaken). Hum…the additional hidden track is really just the singer goofing off! But it’s the music that counts really, and that is simply superb! The guitarist is a real wacky guy, bending and tormenting his intrument to produce the most fascinating sounds possible. On top, Vangrol has the very voice to go with it: rough, and with a certain quality to his growled/ screamed shouts which make him stand out from the average. In other words, there sure is some aggression in both the music and singing, but it is also so darn effectively attractive I cannot keep myself from listening to the album over and over again (which ain’t a good thing at any rate, because at this moment I still have some 14 albums to review in order to catch up with the backlash we had from having our editor-in-chief not minding the web’s business for about a month and a half). Everything combines to make me put Cycles into my year-lists! Check out the 4 songs posted at their MySpace page and dare tell me I’m wrong! 98/100 Tony. |