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Maths

The Fires Courting The Sea EP

Written by: PP on 08/03/2015 19:39:05

Seven years ago I stumbled upon the demo recording by a UK based powerviolence / experimental screamo band Maths. It was a horrible recording in terms of production quality; a total mess doesn't even begin to describe what the record was lacking in that department. But yet somewhere underneath the indecipherable crackling noise, a promise of something truly great was buried, awaiting to be unleashed the moment you sat the band together in a studio with a producer who could understand what they were trying to achieve. I was right. "The Fires Courting The Sea" EP is exactly the record I expected this band to be able to write based on the shoddy demo seven years ago. It is also a much-needed reminder of just how great of a band Fear Before The March Of Flames was on their seminal, genre-defining screamo record "Odd How People Shake" in early 2000s, which in itself was a tribute to the 90s pioneering legends Saetia and Orchid.

The EP opens with "Child Wandering Along The Thames", possibly the most tearing/ripping piece of chaotic hardcore since the advent of Geoff Rickley's United Nations. It's an intense 60 seconds rammed full of stop-start rhythms, insane levels of urgency and immediacy, and a vivid feeling that the band were literally crashing from one wall to the other trying to break through as they were recording these songs. The explosive, throaty vocals are as ravaging as they are unpredictable, fully matching the uncontrollable chaos the band produces instrumentally at the same time. Occasionally haunting clean shouts briefly interrupt the piercingly raw screamo/skramz soundscape; classic United Nations and early Fear Before The March Of Flames dynamics at play, basically.

Elsewhere on the EP, the band contrasts the senseless instrumental destruction with passages of tranquility and beauty to remind us there is order and structure within the sound that's otherwise fully unpredictable in the direction it takes from one moment to the next. This understanding of melody intertwining the insanity screamo / powerviolence soundscapes is what makes "The Fires Courting The Sea" such a great listen. Screamo and powerviolence dynamics haven't sounded this good in a long while.

Download: Last Night Silhouette, Child Wandering Along The Thames
For the fans of: Fear Before The March Of Flames, United Nations, Saetia
Listen: Facebook

Release date 23.03.2015
Tangled Talk Records