Science Bastard

Pull Tiger Death Cord

Written by: PP on 05/05/2012 14:36:30

The vast majority of time the most unusual and weirdest sounding albums come from the experimental metal/noise genres, where you often find yourself travelling on a millimetre thick border between what is and what isn't music. But here's a British group who sounds like no other band I've heard before, and source their expression not from experimental music so much rather than a post-hardcore, screamo, and alternative rock combination: Science Bastard.

Their debut album "Pull Tiger Death Cord" essentially takes alternative rock as its basic platform and expands from it in all directions through quirky and angular riffing, swift tempo-changes, start/stop rhythms, and explosive vocals that range from fierce screaming to charismatic, up-then-down clean vocals. It's a really weird twist on the genre; an ambitious and odd expression that's overloaded with all-over-the-place type of swagger and the energy of punk/hardcore bands, all packed into a crazy and weird-looking box that looks like it might detonate if you go anywhere near it even by accident. The dangerous element of rock'n'roll is ever-present, but so are the pop tendencies and a sense for writing a catchy chorus in the midst of the chaos that often feels like the band is in a state of constant train crash, like a snapshot of the moment where the train has just hit a brick wall and all the contents (people, furniture, seats) of the train's restaurant cabin are in mid-air.

I honestly can't say I've ever heard anything like Science Bastard before, but imagine a band that sounds like At The Drive-In merging with My Chemical Romance's old material and the saloon rock of Foxy Shazam's debut album. Seriously. Especially "Trevor" and "Harmonica" sound in my mind just like how I'd imagine that combination of bands to sound like together. It's so weird my vocabulary and imagery isn't wide enough to properly describe it on paper, it really needs to be heard. And what's more, the band somehow pull great songs out of what should really feel like a total mess after reading that description.

Download: Trevor, All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace, A Different Same
For the fans of: Foxy Shazam, At The Drive-In, La Folie
Listen: Bandcamp

Release date 14.11.2011
Junta Records

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