NoiSays pack a guttural fist-punch of fury into their self-titled debut full-length, out this week via Dark Trail Records. The record feels at once like classic “screamo” and something so much more and all its own.
The band leverages their apparent musical prowess to craft something that communicates its visceral nature as much through the instrumentation as it relies on the harsh but somewhat accessible vocals. The instrumental component to the record sprawls out and contorts on the ground in front of the listener, jumping this way and that, both in sync with the vocal work and on a track all its own. In that manner, the band transcends self-imposed limits faced by some other bands operating in somewhat similar territory, delivering a refreshingly new take on absolute extremity. The instrumental work on the release feels reminiscent of Frontierer at times, although that popular mathcore outfit’s sound remains somewhat thicker than NoiSays.
NoiSays know what direction to take their sound when the time proves right. They’ve got the chaos and the incessant, furious but more focused pounding energy, and occasional respites in between these extremes. They’ve got “groove,” even in the midst of their absolute musical “meltdown.” It’s remarkable to say as much considering the brute force wrought by the band, but their music feels importantly dynamic the longer it’s listened to. In the band’s hands, the sword of musical extremity gets fumbled around . They’re “struggling” to hang on to the metaphorically deadly piece, and yet somehow, in the end, we all get out alive anyway and it’s revealed there was a puppet master the whole time — the band.
Here, NoiSays feel as though they’ve peeled back the skin in which a monster was hiding and what we hear on their debut full length represents that monster’s first encounter with the true, outside world. Somehow, through it all, the band maintains a grounded sense, pivoting around and coming back to an emotional sense — and meltdown — that, while “monstrous” at times, feels very human and placed in our own, real world. It’s just a wonder that humans can sound like this, really.
NoiSays proves inescapably unique in the end, but the record remains a thrilling joyride on a rickety rollercoaster.
5/5 Stars
Pre-orders can be found here: NoiSays on Bandcamp
Listen below, via Bandcamp.
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