Wednesday, July 25, 2012

G&P Review: Sakatat

Sakatat
Bir Devrin Sonu
Everyday Hate

I blame GridLink for this proliferating notion that you can fob off less than 10 minutes of music on people as a full length album. Goddammit, Chang, how many more lives must you ruin? This is why we can't have nice things.
But setting aside for the nonce semantic arguments about the definition of a full length, Sakatat present you with probably the finest eight minutes of straight up, ripping grindcore you're likely to hear this year on debut *ahem* full length Bir Devrin Sonu. While they don't overstay their welcome, Sakatat just do all the little things right. They don't let their blasting obscure that the band is bringing genuine riffs to the table, like the latest iteration of "Adim Adim Enerki" (previously heard on their 2010 split with Dispepsiaa). Easily the finest song in the band's repertoire to date, it skips a tripping beat over an insistent, prowling guitar riff. Even when they end on the (relatively) slow song ("relatively slow" here means punk tempo) "Tahammul Etmek Kabul Etmek Demek," they still keep it to a tight two minutes that keeps its central riff piquant by surfing it over roiling waves of busy drumming.
The entire Bir Devrin Sonu experience is an exhilarating cannonball and careens ahead without a glance to the right or left for eight straight minutes. Don't expect to be surprised, but expect to thoroughly entertained. No experimentation, but no bullshit either. The best comparison to Bir Devrin Sonu is probably Wormrot's Dirge. In both cases the bands bust out simple albums that have a fun core, feel good grind that doesn't skimp on memorable riffs and an infectious energy.

[Full disclosure: Everyday Hate sent me a review copy.]

10 comments:

Unknown said...

8 minutes???!!!!!!

Alex Layzell said...

Love this release, to date the best mincecore release.

Sidet said...

Best mincecore release? Agathocles - Razor Sharp Daggers. Sakatats cool.

Alex Layzell said...

Razor Sharp Daggers is an awesome release and certainly one of the best mincecore releases, but I think in comparison to Sakatat, Agathocles seem a bit lackluster, but have their classic feel to their work. Just a matter of preference really, I am sure we can agree though both bands are thoroughly amazing.

PatrickDM said...

would rather it be short than too long

Andrew Childers said...

a good point patrick, but i think sakatat could have safely doubled the length without boring anybody.

Perpetual Strife said...

Well put Andrew, 16minutes is completely plausible for Sakatat.

Anonymous said...

A band which advocates political correctness would, at least to me, consider for a moment the fact that there are petrol derivates being used for manufacturing vinyl. 8 minutes for an LP is a waste of money, resources, and honestly, my time. This band adds nothing to the musical spectrum we already know, say nothing new and if they did, we wouldn't understand it because English is the "Yankee" language and they prefer not to write/sing in it. That's some political awareness right there, that semi-xenophobic banter. If you want to make a point, than at least put in translations of your lyrics with the record, much like Bruce Banner and a bunch of other bands did. The more I see of what hardcore/grindcore is turning into, the more disgusted I get. DIY, my fucking ass. Probably couldn't pull off playing death metal so decided to go with a genre that excuses sloppiness. Sloppiness, of course, I have no problem with. Being sloppy for all the wrong reasons, however... Fuck this band, and fuck all the rest everyone's hyping to shit for no reason.

Luke Oram said...

I love how anonymous there has chosen to illustrate the concept of the release being a waste of time and the band being sloppy by sloppily writing a waste of time comment. 10/10

Andrew Childers said...

that's a tad... hyberbolic, no?

but hey if it doesn't work for you, that's cool. to each their own. nobody's gonna tie you to the table and make you listen.