Gust meld the head-down, take no prisoners approach of crust, the flair and technicality of metallic riffing and the wrecking-ball power of pace-driven hardcore to create a deadly brand of devastation.
For the most part, this is a whirlwind of aggression and general fast-tempo punk rock nastiness, but the addition of forays into sludgy yet serene tones on Hollow Faces and the heavy desert feel and slide-guitar solo on Unease stops this being a strictly straight-up affair. It takes brains to insert a sinister, creepy passage into Always The Same without ever losing its breakneck propulsion, and the craft shown on being able to swing away with all the weight of Nelly the elephant’s knackers on the crushing, mid-tempo Reality Chokes without ever dropping in heaviness is impressive considering this is only Gust’s second full-length album. Doomy closer Restless Hands, complete with a euphoric backing vocal that’d make Devin Townsend swoon, signs the album off in very fine fashion indeed. You get the feeling the best is yet to come.
Via Southern Lord
