| CD REVIEW Steak Number Eight |
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Band: Steak Number Eight This young Wevelgem (Belgium, medium-large town situated between Kortrijk and Menen) based quartet, consisting of singer/ guitarist Brent Vanneste, guitarist Louis Provost, bassist Jesse Surmont, and drummer Joris Casier stunned most older musicians and jury panel members with their amazing instrumental and songwriting capacities at both the late 2007 (regional) band contest Westtalent and at early 2008’s (national) Humo’s Rock Rally, and in both cases the band came out the winner! With an average age of 15 ½, the guys even made the record books of becoming HRR’s youngest ever band to win! Immediately after that victory, the band presented its debut full-length album When The Candle Dies Out… (recorded at the home studio of Banjamin Desmet, guitarist of Voidpoint, the album’s title is a tribute to Vanneste’s deceased brother, whom used to drum with Desmet’s band), releasing it on their own effort (distribution of the album was taken over by Bang! Music and PIAS in October 2009). 2008’s early successes translated itself in some great gigging opportunities for the youngsters later that year, like getting a slot at such renouned festival as Marktrock, Dour, and the almighty Graspop Metal Meeting. The band also supported Peliican and Torche when they played at Tourcoing. Now what’s so special about this band? Well, according to my info sources, Vanneste (the main songwriter, the rest of the band serving as palate to work his ideas out on) was spoon-fed by his mother on a steady diet of Sunn O))) and esotheric music. That, plus the influences from Isis (main), Amenra, Pelican, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Neurosis, deftones, and Tool, is definitely what comes through in the band’s music. The formula is known: starting with slow and threathening guitars, the band builds up to an explosion of guitars. In the longer tracks, you’ll get an atmospheric passage (strings programmed by both Vanneste and Provost, and a further proof of the band’s proliferancy) to boot, either within the song or as the “outro”. However, the formula ain’t standard, as proven by the overall calmer “The Holy Truth” (during which Vanneste had himself vocally supported by his then only 12 year-old sister Janne). Evidently, there’s also songs where the guys open with a more violent mode before alternating calm passages with aggressive ones (check “On The Other Side”). The great thing about this band, is that they not only bring us the typically drawn-out & lengthy type of songs, but also manage to write some shorter tracks. Again, this ads to a certain versatility of the band. Vocally, Vanneste isn’t quite solid yet, but that’s the only “negative” comment you’ll see me write about him, as he doés try to bring some versatility to his singing nevertheless (for instance, through screamed singing during “Falling Out Of A Dream”). In early 2009, the band re-recorded the track “Blood On Our Hands” with Mario Goossens (see also Triggerfinger and Black Box Revelation, among others) as producer, making for a shorter version of the song which they then put on a radio promo single…which apparently was greated with some reluctance by quite a few stations(?), but it was nevertheless aired by Studio Brussel (one of our national radio stations). With a vision to have a new album out somewhere in Spring 2010, the band started taking it easy on the live front in order to work on new songs, one of which (actually already recorded at the same session with Goossens) they put on the promo 2-track we have in front of us! That same promo and the album were then, along with a nice letter, sent out (by their management agency) to several record labels in hopes of getting a deal for the release of their upcoming album. Among the things anyone whom has heard both the promo album and the 2-track promo single will agree to, is that the singer now seems much more at ease. The ease with which the band cut the complete atmospheric passage of “Blood…”, and still make the new version sound like the original, is simply uncanny…but those into just those type of passages need not panic, because the near 8-minute “The Perpetual” is yet again a song to contain such amazing stuff! Whatever the outcome of their label search, I foresee the distinct possibility of their album doing real well among lovers of Isis, Pelican, Neurosis…Sludge and Stoner in general. That being the type of music fans who like their music on their own music carrier (as opposed to the -illegal- download generation which is sllowly killing both the music industry and bands alike), preferably even vinyl, makes for a certitude of relatively good sales figures…which can only improve in that case when the record label which would take on the band supports the band in European (and why not beyond?) tours with like-minded bands. Check it out mates, check it out. For some audio, visit myspace.com/steakn8! 98/100 Tony. |
