Tuesday 15 October 2013

Honduran - Street Eagles (Album Review)




Album Type : Full Length
Date Released :  20/6/2013
Label : Eolian Empire

STREET EAGLES, track listing :

1. Never Forget (Ben Bratt)
2. Shitizen
3. Pregnant Skeletons
4. Burnt Vestry
5. Yawnmower
6. The Corpse
7. K-9
8. Hiding from the Idiots
9. First World Problems
10. Street Eagles
11. Stampeded by Fear

Bio :

HONDURAN is from Portland, Oregon, and comprises guitarist/vocalist Jason Dinges, bassist/vocalist Corey Dieckman, and drummer Kevin Spafford. Since their first show in early 2009 HONDURAN has been on the warpath, playing shows in Portland and throughout the West. They released their debut LP, Language & Violence, in 2009, followed later by a split 7-inch and self-titled 4-song 7-inch. The 11-song, 21-minute Street Eagles LP is their first release for Portland outsider D.I.Y. label and “heavy vibes” merchants Eolian Empire. For us, listening to HONDURAN is like taking a brutal, breakneck-speed but grooved-out trip through our favorite old-school hardcore (Cro Mags, Burn, Inside Out) and early, odd-time Helmet and Prong noise-rock-slash-industrialmetal maxed out and ground into a thick paste polluted with big chunks of Napalm Death grind, Spazz-y powerviolence, and Bay Area thrash... a relentless race against time of brutal hardcore, violent grind, damaged noise rock, fuckered-sludge, and breakdowns, breakdowns, breakdowns. But we're pretty old and don't know shit.

HONDURAN played their first show in early 2009, and since then have been continually and meticulously honing their new-math ground-the-fuck-out hardcore, destroying hearts and minds all along the way with their merciless live executions in dirty basements and backstreet clubs. Their skewed vision of chugging power-crust is a truly adventurous take-no prisoners version of ultra-heavy technical hardcore in all its greatest and most extreme forms, backboned by the bond of three blood brothers just bringing it–because that's how they roll. Now, here they are, up in your face, ready to fight.

Street Eaglesis a dark, dangerous trip through Rip City: a labyrinth of blasted beats, chunked-up chug-a-lugs, and warrior cries—with nary a solo in sight, all meat and bone. The recording by Fester (Rabbits, Nux Vomica, Knelt Rote) at Haywire Studios in Portland captures the band clear, heavy, and sick like never before. Experience a brutal sonic bludgeoning in all its fine detail! Riff after riff of palm-muted madness and finger-clicking bass over an volatile bed of beats both lightning fast and super slow from three twisted technicians way down in the frontline trenches. Why not pile on back-and-forth shrieking screams and guttural growls to make sure you really understand just how far they are willing to go?

The Band :
Jason Dinges | Guitars, vocals
Corey Dieckman | Bassist, vocals
Kevin Spafford | Drums

Review :

Honduran are from nowhere remotely near Honduras. They're from Portland. This isn't geography for idiots, so I don't need to tell you fine folk that the Pacific north-west of America is nowhere near Honduras. Cool name for a band though, right?

I thought so too. They have a crazy sweet new album out called 'Street Eagles' (nice graffiti cover art, by the way). It's a power violence noise-fest-son-of-a-bitch of a record. Check it out, try to prove that description wrong.

Album opener 'Never Forget (Ben Bratt)' is pretty amazing. Part of me hopes he Googles his own name and discovers this track, gets converted to cool shit and starts a band where every lyric is a reference to Demolition Man. That would just about make my year. As it stands, there is probably zero chance of that ever happening, so I'm lucky that this tune exists as consolation. It's really immediate, a rolling wall of nasty thoughts. The deranged vocals work REALLY well, and the solid groove brings to mind noise acts like Unsane. The random up-tempo parts only succeed in making the piece even more wild. It's all punky in its approach one moment, and then the heaviest of metal the next. Great stuff.

More great titles abound with 'Shitizen' (give these people some sort of medal). Another cacophony of sound, highly structured yet absolutely frothing at the mouth. None of it makes much sense, but it sounds so fucking good. The steady riff at the start is practically erotic.

'Yawnmower' (seriously? Medals!) is another steady-rolling juggernaut of cool and malicious intent. It's so sick that its very existence is probably either illegal in most States, or offensive to the rest. They're really aggressive, yet they have this awesome knack for creating and handling the rhythms that they somehow manifest. It's almost on the verge of being out of control, but not quite. Danger is super fun, kids!

'Hiding From The Idiots' has somewhat of a grind feel to it, both sonically and in outright attitude. There are some great deep-end riffs bubbling over here, all the while tempered by those speedy moments. The fast / slow mix of drumming is particularly ace here too, it'll bounce around the inside of your skull and lodge itself in there awkwardly. A bit like the fact that Ben Bratt was in Demolition Man.

'Street Eagles' is a barnburner of a record. Totally pissed off and violent, underpinned by a sense of not giving even the remotest of fucks. Zero 'style', all substance. It's impossible not to wholeheartedly dig it if you've ever been justifiably vexed at somebody or something. Honduran are ones to watch. Musically talented AND masters of the art of song titling? Sign me up.

Words by : Matt Fitton
 
You can buy it here



For more information :