Doom, Breakdowns & Brown Ale. Who'da thunk it would work? (Album Review)

Lavotchkin
Widow Country (2010)

After putting out splits with Attack! Vipers! & Crocus over the past year or so, Newcastles Lavotchkin released 'Widow country' in the spring, and it really is fucking awesome.

I caught them live with Throats a couple of months ago, and they totally blew me away. On stage, they're incredibly tight, with vocalist Simon Tittley throwing all the usual hardcore moves, but with more sincerity and humour than you'd ever expect, and the rest of the band (Martin Downing on guitar, Simon Hubbard on Bass, Paul Hawdon on drums and finally, 'The Leviathan', Ben Wishlade on guitar) doing much the same in the way of self risking stage shenanigans.  And, amazingly, it's ALL caught perfectly on record.

Tittley's vocals are so intense it's crazy, but they're never overpowering, and the occasional inclusion of a more traditional backing vocal (NOT your usual hardcore gang vocals) is a great move, and brings a more classic rock element to the mix. Track three, 'The Werther Effect', is a perfect example of how good these guys are. Starting like some kind of Cursed/Narrows mongrel, the riffs popping up in the last minute tread some kind of line between early Sabbath-era doom and toughguy hardcore breakdowns.

'IrukanDji' brings that doom influence right to the front, dropping the tempo significantly, and ramping up the bass and sludge to the highest level; this is the track that makes you want to kick shit over and throw stuff around, just really really slowly.

In the words of a friend of mine, the title-track that closes the album is a peach, and, quite literally, makes you wish this was a full album rather than just the fifteen odd minutes you actually get.

There's so much crammed into these six tracks that it's pretty incredible; managing to stick in classic riffs, chun-like breakdowns, sludged to fuck bass and some seriously intimidating vocals into such a small space of time is commendable, and this is the best example you'll find of modern British, and most importantly, interesting, hardcore.

www.myspace.com/lavothckin