We Close Our Eyes

Review by Andy Malcom - Collective Zine

This is mighty fine for a demo. All the more shocking is that this band comes from Norwich. Not in a million years would I ever expect a band from Norwich to play screamo this well. I would expect them to be a boring metal band that screams, or sound like Thursday and pretend they are screamo. Instead, WCOE plays noisy hardcore that does retain a bit of a metal edge, but luckily they’ve taken a big ole file to it to round it off a bit, and make it a little more palatable for my ears, like that band the Quest for Quintana Roo. Amidst the more thundering riffs they sprinkle in some melodic guitar and a good crossover of harsh screamed vocals and more shouty/talky ones. “Day Trips to Alkatraz” has an awesome twinkly breakdown in it for example. “Your Life At Twice The Price” is totally frantic and spazz. They finish on their best track “Second Hand Oppression” which is a total epic – it builds up into a spiralling emo finale, has breakdowns and quiet bits and just everything. Absolutely awesome.

At other times this CD reminds me of the earlier Saetia stuff, with a more chaotic urge at times that can bring to mind Orchid. Obviously, it’s totally unfair to a band that is putting out a demo to be compared to those two bands, but hey. There is an awesome instrumental right in the middle – loved that. And things are rounded off by the excellent packaging,

Also, must mention that some of the guys in this band are also in another Norwich band called Long Live who are even better than this lot (they sound like kind of a cross between stuff like Slint and Giants Chair and the melodic parts of Saetia – no screamin’). Talented folks.

Oh! One song has hand claps! That seals it!

Demo 2002 

Fork and Knife

 

Marking the first installment in Alone Records' new limited edition seven inch series, New York's The Electric Mayhem and Fork & Knife team up to unleash their own brands of stripped back, raw aggression on one single slab of virgin vinyl. Featuring members of I Am the Resurrection, The Hope Conspiracy and Gospel, The Electric Mayhem fuse the intensity of screamo with a dirty rock sound straight from a garbage barge burning in the East River. Two blistering tracks of unharnessed power that will bring the surrounding tri state area to its knees.

 

Fork and Knife / Electric Mayhem

Fork and Knife / Helen of Troy

Fighter Hayabusa

 

Fighter Hayabusa was a hardcore band from Philadelphia with unique vocals that kicked ass. They released an EP "Can Kill A Shark With Their Bare Hands" in March of 2006. They announced their break up in December of 2006. The guitarist and original drummer currently play together in the band King Slender.

Fighter Hayabusa

The Attica Underground

 

From Obscure Seven Inches

In high school I spent a lot of time hanging out at Ernie November, the record store in downtown Mankato, MN at the time. I bought a lot of records and CD's. I bugged the employees a lot. I especially bugged them about hiring me when I turned 18. Eventually I turned 18 and graduated high school and they hired me. My first boss there was a Sioux Falls, South Dakota transplant named Erik Torkelson.

It's not very often you have a boss in any job that is into the same records as you, and for my first record store boss he was excellent for recommending some bands based on the stuff I was into. One of the bands he informed me about was his old hardcore band from 1997 in Sioux Falls called The Attica Underground, which he was the vocalist in alongside drummer Becky Hanten, who also played drums in Cadillac Blindside, The Book Of Dead Names, and The Kill In Me.

He played the 7" for me at work one day and upon hearing the beginning of the first song on side A, I knew I had to track down this 7". It wasn't long before I came across a used copy at the Ernie November store in Sioux Falls, SD while on a roadtrip to see a show and I've recommended this 7" to many friends since then, although it's not easy to find by any means, unfortunately. Erik eventually quit the record store and moved back to Sioux Falls to join Examination Of The... as their second (and eventually only) bass player.

Aside from Erik and Becky, two of the members of The Attica Underground played previously in the Sioux Falls band Jedi, which was the opening band of the first punk show I ever attended (I'll upload their 7" sometime in the future). The 7" also features backup vocals from Shawn Glassford, who is currently in Starfucker.

Pre Spirit of Versailles, but 90s goodness.

Tape + Some repeats (get the 7inch from the blog above)