Iceland’s Strigaskór nr. 42 have been quietly biding their time since their 1994 album Blot, but with the release of Armadillo they’ve come screaming back with a punchy, precise and hooky hybrid of metal, hardcore and math prog.* Most of the songs are fast and varied with catchy tremolo chords interspersed with chugging muted rhythms that recall Helmet and Prong, quite often veering into heavy, wildly syncopated and carnivalesque art rock parts that almost bear comparison to Rock in Opposition or the late great Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, but without being overly derivative. The band also tactically employs swinging brass sections and injections of noise. Vocals have a snarled punk urgency in the heavier sections and a more nasal mid-nineties Ministry drawl in the moodier parts. Like a cooler, crisper North Atlantic answer to Japan’s hardcore pastiche band Garlic Boys, Strigaskór nr. 42 handily move between speedy fluidity, hardcore brutality and artful digressions, buoying the chugging and churning with a bit of melody and studied oddness that places them thoroughly in the Icelandic tradition. The result is a hard-hitting, catchy and incredibly fun excursion, smart but not too smart, rock-n-roll as it should be.
*Note: the band self-released the album in 2013, but now have label support.
-James Slone
VITALS:
Release: 2015
Label: Hellthrasher Productions
Avantgenre: Rock-n-roll As It Should Be
Duration: 32:09
Origin: Iceland
Official site: http://https://strigaskor42.bandcamp.com/releases
Review online since: 20.07.2015 / 00:16:45
TRACKLIST:
01 –
02 – Armadillo
03 – Helmutt
04 – Adanac
05 – Maur
06 – Ellos Son Locos!
07 – Frakkland
08 – Chorale
09 – Tse
10 – Rol
11 – Tvist
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