THE AX hail from Portland, Oregon and “Fossils of Our Kind” is their third release from the Whoa! Boat Record label out of Seattle. It comes on 10″ vinyl in an edition of 400, with 200 coming on colored lavender wax.
It might not sound that way at first, but The Ax are actually just a duo consisting of drums, guitars and vocals – something I personally didn’t even realize until I read it on their Myspace. Once you get that out of the way you can see what these two dudes are all about. They play hard and heavy post-punk with a sloppy and doomed complexion that produces a nearly frightening sound. Raw and sludgy guitars tear songs open at the seams (see “Bent the Wires” for confirmation) and the void is filled with their gross and demented approach to post-punk, producing endlessly filthy vibes as the sharp guitars call all the shots.
Songs are generally short and rarely span past three minutes, but they manage to pack each one full of disgusted grit with menacing and frantic instrumentals that will put you on your ass – use “Shed Our Skin” as one fitting example with its spastic formula. Following that, “The Flood” takes the form of a much slower, dirge-like creeper that sits heavily with its hellish, threatening tendencies. For reasons like this I almost want to compare their sound to The Men, but in the long run that probably wouldn’t be the most accurate comparison for many reasons.
“In the Shadows” is their longest track on the 10″, beginning with a buzzing guitar line that drives us headfirst into the bruising onslaught that’s brewing underneath. This track combines a little bit of everything that The Ax has to offer, from the disgusted slide-guitar breakdowns to face-beating percussion and twisted vocals that nearly sound possessed by a monotone ghost. Either way though, you can’t shake the feeling of being dipped in a corrosive acid when this release is all wrapped up – they also didn’t really give us another option, but it’s not like we’re complaining either. Dig in with these songs from the 10″ right below and go snag one while they’re still available!
Bent the Wires –
In the Shadows –
Down the Stream –
Genre/ Tags: Post-Punk, Grunge, Lo-Fi
Fossils of Our Kind 10″: Tracklist:
1.) Climb and Claw
2.) Bent the Wires
3.) Shed Our Skin
4.) The Flood
5.) In the Shadows
6.) Down the Stream
7.) Crawl Back
8.) Isle of Light
BUY the 10″ directly from Whoa! Boat Records – limited to 200 on lavender vinyl !
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