Twelve Tribes

Midwest Pandemic

Written by: TL on 23/01/2007 00:14:01

If you have any love for good hardcore at all, let me just tell you straight away to immediately get your hands on the most recent release from Twelve Tribes. "Midwest Pandemic" is a thundering salutation of other hardcore mastodons this year, especially Norma Jeans "Redeemer", Misery Signals "Mirrors" and UnderOATHs "Define The Great Line", as well as a record that has enough identity of its own to vastly exceed the role of being a mere hybrid.

Simply remember how the sonic assault of "Redeemer" was a soothing sound to your experienced hardcore-trained ears and you'll feel right at home, since it is, in my opinion, Norma Jean that is the most obvious reference point for the sound of "Midwest Pandemic". However it is still far from being a carbon-copy, as the soundscapes are rather built around repetetive and groovy riffs and huge walls of feedback and distortion than around relentless breakdowns. The first five tracks of the record slide by with gloomy, almost Tool-ish moods, effortlessly gliding in and out of each other, while the brilliance of it all is raining down on your senses, and when you reach the fifth track "History Versus The Pavement", you'll have noticed the strange atmospheric bits and pieces in the mix, that have a very similar feel to those of Misery Signals recent album "Mirrors".

"Monarch Of Dreams" slides in, and while maybe reminding you slightly of Underoaths "Salmanir", it stands as a textbook example of how well an interlude could and should work. Then the pace picks up, as restraints are thrown aside and aggression overwhelms the tightness of the first half of the album. Especially on this the second half of the album, I can't help but think of the sound of "Define The Great Line". This style is explored on four tracks before it's finally time for the almost nine minute long epic closer "The Recovery (In Three Parts) I. God Bless You, Good Thief, II. Towers And Vectors, III. Bridge To The Sun". On this track, everything we've heard on the record so far comes together in a massive display of power, as if to make sure that if you were somehow still standing, you would now be completely blown to tiny bits and pieces.

This record my friends, is a piece of extremely high quality progressive hardcore craftmanship, and had "Redeemer" not been released so recently, with an expression so similar, I might have rewarded it even more than this. Treat your ears to Midwest Pandemic, I promise you won't regret it.

Download: National Amnesia, Televangelist, Verona
For the fans of: Norma Jean, Underoath, Misery Signals
Listen: MySpace

Release date 02.10.2006
Ferret Records
Provided by Target ApS

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