No Spill Blood
Heavy Electricity
(Sargent House)
No Spill Blood is an Irish post-punk band that, much like everyone else on Sargent House, does things just a little differently. Sure, the band’s sound isn’t all that dissimilar to The Killing Joke, but No Spill Blood is more than just a new shade of its influences. It’s also an Oingo Boingo reference, which is also a reference to the classic novel The Island of Dr. Moreau. No Spill Blood is also a damn good band. It’s difficult to classify No Spill Blood, and that’s a welcome aspect. This is much more than post-punk, with heavy doses of prog, noise rock, space rock, and post-hardcore.
Oh, and by the way, there’s no guitar on the record, but you’ll be surprised how little you miss it on Heavy Electricity. It’s an appropriate title for such a heavy record that’s brimming with distorted noise. The bass has that sort of pulsing bounciness that only comes from a great understanding of groove. The band has a progressive attitude and mathy rhythmic undercurrents. The rhythm section feels like a wicked undertow that can capture you at any moment. It makes it rather difficult to head-bang along, but that’s not a big criticism. However, the synths steal the show here, at least in the sense that they’re the icing on the cake. Without them, No Spill Blood offers up a delicious slab of post-stuff (insert your preferred genre argument here) that is enjoyable, but the synth work, it takes everything to a whole new level. These songs are trippy, psychedelic, in a way that is less Pink Floyd and more horrifying acid trip. This isn’t a comfortable listen, meant to allow listeners to passively pass judgment. This is excessively (and awesomely) aggressive, both in sound and tone.
If there’s a fault to place upon the album, it’s that some of the songs blend together because there is little to no melody. After subsequent listens, this becomes less of a problem, but it’s notable, and probably a byproduct playing in a riff-based genre without a guitar. Thankfully, what isn’t lacking is pretty much everything else. With a post-everything sound and enough musical cojones to pull it off, No Spill Blood brings the jams, hard. (Nicholas Senior)
Purchase Heavy Electricity here.
