03 : OCT : 04
Sydney Gothic reviews Nurse Grenade
www.sydneygothic.com

Angelspit – Nurse Grenade – e-EP [Independent/Crash Frequency]

Boy meets Girl. Girl meets vocoder. Boy meets distortion pedal. Boy and Girl tell world to get fucked and look and sound great doing it.

Energetic, stylised and seething with analogue texture and heat, the web release of cyberpunk duo Angel Spit’s EP promises to tear a cruel hole in the face of Sydney gothic/industrial music.

Opening with the anarchistic imagery of Maggot, a tone is set for the whole ep. Listeners can be expected to tear off their ties and smash their desktops if listening on a workday – so be warned. This energy and mayhem continues with Meat, with riot grrl and analogue terrorist boy’s vocals so layered as to offer echoes of Atari Teenage Riot – except this time the driving force is a dense guitar hook rather than breakbeats.

Head Kult, combines synthpop and the thumping, sharp sound of the earliest Angel Spit remixes and the ep slows somewhat with Infect, but it’s probably the track that proves the outfit isn’t just attitude. Beginning with metallic percussion and steady, warm synth bass the track builds into a dark ambient monster painted with cyberpunk boy and riot grrrl singing in affected unison.

The pace is again picked up with the satirical Fuck Fashion, another riff-laden rocking beast that stoops to knock cyberpunk fashionistas, but with beats that prickle the skin and lyrics that put the mocking, fun tone back into goth – it’s bound to become their anthem.

Ultimately, the machine grinds back down with Nurse Grenade – the title track. It’s the most musically inventive – dropping the punk attitude for slow, deliberate and crunching keys and drums and offering echoes of Trent Reznor’s instrumentals – and leaving the listener wanting more.

Which part of “fuck off” don’t you understand?

Download the EP : http://www.angelspit.net/nurse_grenade/

-James Ryan.