| CD REVIEW Astpai |
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Band : Astpai If you're looking forward to spending a couple of hours listening to the sounds of the early American DIY Punk & Hardcore scene, you definitely should try to put in the music of this Wiener Neustadt based Austrian quintet! I'm not sure when exactly the band was formed, but I know the guys release two full-length demos in 2003 and 2003, which eventually resulted in the 2005 Austrian release of the band's official debut full-length Feeling Safe In Programmed Channels through local label Rise Or Rust Records. Working themselves towards the 2008 release of their 2008 official sophomore full-length Corruption Concealed the band (then still a foursome consisting of lead singer/ guitarist Zock, guitarist Marco, bassist René, and drummer Wimmer) in true DIY ethics worked themselves to their first Euro-tour in 2007, a 5-week tour of USA's East Coast, and a 3-week tour of Western Europe and the UK...even before they had anything “officially” out. The heavy work ethics payed off, as the band found labels to distribute their second album in Austria (Rise Or Rust), rest of Europe (Fond Of Life Records) ànd the USA (Jump Start Records). Thanks to contacts made in the UK, the band saw a split 7-inch EP with Attack! Vipers! released in 2008 in a joint effort of Laserlife Records and UK's We Heart Records. The band followed that up with a 7 week Europe/ UK tour and a 6-week trek through the USA and parts of Canada in 2009. In between the 2009 tours, the band worked on new material...and started recording in March 2010 (as for their previous releases, at S.T.R.E.S.S. Studios with Tom Twenty – for the mastering they turned to Alan Douches at NYC's West West Side Studios), sessions which sprouted enough stuff to fill this 13-track, 36-minute album, the 2-track 7-inch single The Scavenger (none of the songs on album; download code within single giving access to 3 previously unreleased extra tracks) for Jump Start Records, and the limited edition (only 200 copies made) of a self-tailored wooden box single titled On Your Own (the title song culled from the full-length, but the boys added 2 additional unreleased tacks, ànd put in a download code for two more songs, a poster, and a patch). And apparently, the band (now grown to a five-some with the addition of Alex, probably on second guitar to relieve the lead singer from that task) even has some more material on the side for possible additional split releases. As mentioned earlier, the music is stylistically reminiscent to early US Punk/ Hardcore, with lead vocals that are of the rough side, but which get nice backings in different modes, sometimes screamed, sometimes somewhat harmonic, but always fitting...and by alternating the mostly mid-paces tracks with some slower ones, the boys also managed to put in some nice variety in the album. More vocal variety comes with opening track “Routines & Rattling Chains”, which is a spoken word thing, and there's more of that in the intro of “Carne(t)vores”. There's 4 songs off the full-length and 6 more, posted at myspace.com/astpai, but really any réal fan of the early US Punk/ Hardcore scene can just go out to the record store and buy this album blindly! In fact, although I've already got a copy of the CD, I'm gonna get myself a copy of the LP as well...because that's what I do with albums I like, whenever the opportunity allows for it! Evidently, this calls for an inclusion in my year-lists! 98/100 Tony. |