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Bear Vs Shark

Terrorhawk

Written by: PP on 23/06/2005 03:14:03

It's rare to see a band trying something completely different these days with the overflow of emo and screamo bands. And it's even more rare to see a band actually succeeding in sounding great as well as different. Bear Vs Shark belongs to the latter category with their sophomore album "Terrorhawk" - an album that combines indie rock and post-hardcore peculiarly together to create something that certainly owes its debts to two major influences in the last decade. Songs like "5,6 Kids" and "Seven Stop Hold Restart" owe more to the irrationality of At The Drive-In and the hardcore roots of Fugazi than anyone else, however the true gems of the album can be found in the songs with the least resemblance to those two bands. "What A Horrible Night For A Curse" and "I Fucked Your Dad" demonstrate the magnificence of Bear Vs Shark. Starting out with slow, raw instruments and whispery, spoken out vocals these songs explode into an absurd mixture of biting noise and melody. "Heard Iron Bug, 'They're Coming To Town'" continues on the latter recipe of absolute manicness in terms of noise/melody combination, all on top of Marc's vocals that sound like they're screamed, shouted, sang and whispered at the same time. Its a pure pleasure listening to songs like these because they keep you on your toes all the time. They start out slowly and quietly, until the tempo and noise just quadruple in a matter of seconds, only to fall down to be double as slow and whispery again. You never know what's coming next. Now, this might be too much to grasp for most people, but the name of the band will tell you a lot about them. If you don't usually dig bands with 'emoish', silly names like this one, Bear Vs Shark will be not be easy on you. They'll challenge you, they'll annoy you, and they'll keep pounding you until you slowly start to understand the beauty of their music. If you're looking for an At The Drive-In/Fugazi-style record, you have found what you are looking for. But be cautious, you won't find more than small glimpses of their sound. What you will find, however, is a record that will please you, and challenge you at the same time. Keep it up guys!

Download: "5,6 Kids", "What A Horrible Night For A Curse"
For the fans of: At The Drive-In, Fugazi
Listen: Myspace

Release date 14.06.2005
Equal Vision records