This pair of singles from the Banbridge-based purveyors of grungy, post-hardcore noise formerly known as B.O.Y. marks the next step of their musical progression from debut EP, The Football Season Is Over. Without ever straying too far from their signature sound, the two separate tracks sum up the essence of the band’s sound by pulling as far as they can in opposite directions.
Of the singles, ‘Teenage Parasites’ is the more straightforward song (by their standards) in the vein of pre-Nevermind Nirvana – in both musical style and disaffected lyrical content – but with increased willingness to push the boundaries of a 4/4 structure. Taking influence from more leftfield acts like Adebisi Shank and ASIWYFA, ‘Take It In Parts’ could easily be found on a Richter Collective compilation; from this it’s clear that the trio have spent time on their craft, incorporating synths and stop-start dynamics into their sound. This music should not be accessible, but for the fact that drummer-vocalist Ryan Burrowes’ voice falls cosily between those of Kurt Cobain and Simon Neil certainly helps, while the rhythm section holds a tight grip on structure amidst the layers of screeching chaotic guitar lines. The underlying feeling within these singles seems to be progression on many levels, and having set the bar even higher for themselves with this release, only time will tell if abandcalledboy can follow up on this appetiser. Stevie Lennox
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FOR FANS OF: PULLED APART BY HORSES, BIFFY CLYRO, MCLUSKY
In the world of rock’n'roll, boys will be boys. For Abandcalledboy it’s taken a slight change of name to relaunch themselves head-first into their familiar vicinity of deranged-sounding riff rock and unpredictable performances.
As B.O.Y., the drummer-led trio from Banbridge, Northern Ireland had made a name for themselves in the underground circuit as an uncompromising live presence with fearless youth energy bolstered by the kind of raw noise that wouldn’t sound out of place on an Albini-recorded Sub Pop compilation.
National airplay and support slots with names like Rolo Tomassi, Fighting With Wire and And So I Watch You From Afar were indicators that their distorted creations were being heard on a wider scale, so hopefully their new identity won’t hurt this progress.
‘Teenage Parasites‘ is a decisive way to reintroduce their now Google-friendlier selves. The guitars are stark and abrasive with unkempt floods of delay and feedback strung over wretched vocals and a skittering, spidery bassline. It’s more experimental than the standard grunge formula and with an outro that sounds like a severely pissed off plague of loudness it’s their best recording to date. The fact that they’ve earned their reputation prior to this song now makes us very eager to see them rip the limbs from every venue they hit in the coming months.
‘Take It In Parts‘ acts as an accompanying track that represents the same anger and vibe but is comparatively weak without as clear a direction as ‘…Parasites’. Perhaps it’ll be stronger live but on record it sounds slightly confused and wanders without the full impact it needs.
Still, with ‘Teenage Parasites’ Abandcalledboy are onto a firm sample of the kind of brutal noise rock that will make them a live act to be reckoned with in the next few years and if that energy can translate more in the recordings there’s hopes for a much wider audience. With UK tour plans as well it won’t be long before the mainland’s underground rock lovers are given a severe brain-ampage overload like Ireland’s have.
(Daniel Robinson)
Abandcalledboy are set to launch the ‘Teenage Parasites’ single on June 11th at Auntie Annie’s, Belfast Support comes from Gascan Ruckus, We Come In Pieces and Jumping Orbit.
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