The world of Hardcore has raised its head over the stage barriers in the last couple of years. Mainstream attention has been drawn by the pop and hip hop like production of the sublime Glow On by Turnstile and in recent weeks Knocked Loose have been turning hipster heads on both sides of the Atlantic. Add to that recent buzz around Jesus Piece, Vein FM and even Ozzie loons Speed punks sportswear wearing lil brother is getting another two step in the spotlight.
Enter Candy the multi state based hardcore hybrid. Since their debut “Good To Feel” in 2018 they have been raising eyebrows with their mix of blastbeats, beatdowns, drum breaks and dream pop. This is a band who claim to love Stone Roses and MBV as much as they do Youth Of Today.
Relapse seems to be the ideal home for Candy – what was once a home of death metal extremity now is the secret underground lair of multiple genres of ground-breakers and shakers – YOB, Wolves In the Throne Room, Zombi and S U R V I V E have all leapt out of a dark alley at me in recent times.
Candy was last expelled Pez like by Relapse two years ago with “Heaven Is Here” which mixed bits of drum and bass and Noise in with the angry shoutalongs. I was recently visibly disturbed by the band whilst listening in the gym. I was stealing myself for a dropset (such a gigachad) listening to Heaven is Here and the final track ”Perverse” came on. I had not listened to the album for a while and had forgotten about this 10 minutes of harsh noise and glitching. Did not help with getting pumped up. (that is my excuse).
So here we are in 2024 and fresh Candy drops in my lap. Like the good diabetic I am I snatched at it and ran.
I may as well be honest from the outset (he types 5 paragraphs in), this is probably my favourite album of the year so far. That fact has shocked me. I had heard the single “You Will Never Get Me” featuring Justice Tripp of Angel Du$t and really dug it’s mix of Nu Metal, Industrial and Hardcore. I got whiffs of Static X and Pitchshifter on it as well as angry knuckle dragging hardcore. Right up my alley. However, I had thought this might be a diamond in an over hyped rough.
Idiot. This album is eclectic – which is expected from a band that seeks to break the mould of “hardcore” and to throw hooks out Cenobite style to drag in fans of multiple genres. Opener “eXistenZ” mixes some Slipknot style percussion with some frankly massive riffs and hooky breakbeats before giving way to the hefty “Short Circuit” which is a two stepping crowd killers wet dream. I can smell the back-fists and spilled pints from here. It may not be big and clever but the music is sure fucking fun to listen to. Little thrashy guitar solo too provided by Integrity legend Aaron Melnick before a dirty beatdown. I feel deliciously soiled – like an MP chewing an orange in Soho.
The title track takes me back to early Pitchshifter once again. The mix of breakbeat, slices of Gabba , industrial and Nailbomb style sledgehammer riffs is pretty infectious and then a killer riff that just grabbed me round the throat and shook me till my teeth rattled.
Then a swerve – MIRSY from Fleshwater and the producer morph for the dreampop meets industro synth of “Love Like Snow” . Hints of chologoth’s “Prayers” dark but dancey grooves but with a hard-hitting hardcore vocal delivery underpinned by MIRSY’s breathy ethereal lilt. Simply lovely.
Which is not how I can describe “Dehumanize Me” A barrage of electronic drums sounding like the rise of Skynet and the downfall of man atop big beat industrial mayhem. Mechanical warfare is the cry and it sticks in my head for most of the day. I’ll be honest once more – the whole album has been on repeat for me the last few days. There is something so bloody moreish about it. It is scratching the itch I have at this moment in time – which as a music lover you know happens once in a while and throws an artist up a pedestal in your collection.
“Faith 91” spits bile with a couple of the now trendy “bleughs” that work as punctuation as well as Tom G’s “ooghs” whislt “Terror Management” is a 90 second flurry of hyperactivity that skids pretty close to Powerviolence and then drops a chonky old beatdown riff.
“Dreams Less Sweet” is muscular riff after riff – Hardcore on Tren. Just pounding and relentless but oddly soporific whilst “Silent Collapse” is spiky and punky but still with a brutalist concrete and chrome edge. That concrete is peeled away to steel rivets and android oil filled ligaments in the pulsating gabbacore of “Dancing to the Infinite Beat”. It never completely descends into chaos keeping the semblance of rhythm throughout with a mind-piercing 1980’s Capcom style electronic section that has me reaching for a 20p piece.
The finale “Hypercore” is a mashup once more of breakbeats, mad electronica and almost Anarchopunk. I reviewed a Crass dance remix album a couple of years ago and this makes me think of that. When it breaks down amid some electronics and scratching it feels like the entire album is imploding before a hyper happy hardcore drum beat jigs all over its corpse.
This album is just great. It mashes up a myriad of interesting sounds and styles that will suit many Gen Z’ers with their need for constant stimulation (stereotyping Gen X’er here) but there remains at its core and angry hardcore punk spirit that is like a fist to the face and then a cheeky punch to the upper arm.
Yeah – this is the way.
(9.5/10 Matt Mason)
Leave a Reply