Thursday 5 March 2015

GAY KISS Preservation Measures




A couple of years back I loudly sung the praises of the first Gay Kiss LP, an incendiary slice of manically tempo-changing hardcore, laced with a heavy dose of AmRep style noise rock. Since then we've only had a couple of short cassette releases to tide us over, so the email from bandcamp the other day announcing the release of Preservation Measures was a very welcome sight.

Preservation Measures is the long-awaited second full length from the Arizonan juggernaut, and if the amount of blogs it's showing up on this week is any indication, I'm not the only punk who's been jonesing for it. Musically, these twelve (eight new) tracks sound very similar to 2013's Fault - fast hardcore, loaded with blasting riffs and memorable hooks, punctuated by the kind of breakdowns that raise the hackles and give you goosebumps. If I noticed a real difference on the first few listens, it's the inclusion of some five-piece era Black Flag/BL'AST influenced moments, something which never gets old for me. The band's noise rock tendencies are also noticeable once again, this time in the form of some subtle power electronics that wobble and oscillate in the background.

One observation, not a complaint, is that the guitar (or maybe even the whole mix?) seems a bit more subdued on this album. Solution: turn it the fuck up! Finally, it's really nice of the boys to include the lyrics with their bandcamp download. Way to go.

So, another shredding album from one of the most powerful, original and sincere hardcore bands going today. A definite early contender for album of the year.



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