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      imAGE  
         
 
Recording:
  Exist as Instructed
 
 
Artist:
  Trash Fiasco
 
 
Label:
  self-released
 
 
Release Date:
  20.March.2024  
 
Reviewed by:
  PostLibyan  
         
 
Rating:
   
         
 
Review:
 

Trash Fiasco is a punk band from Chicago, and this is their second album.

When you describe a band as "punk" it can mean many things. Most people think of Rancid in their mohawks and leather jackets, or Green Day with strange hair colors and catchy rhythms. But X-Ray Spex were considered a punk band, as were Talking Heads at one time.

My point here is that punk can mean a lot of things. In this case, i think it best to describe Trash Fiasco as a mix of The Misfits, The Minutemen, The Cramps, and Dead Kennedys. All of those bands fall under the category of punk bands, and yet all are drastically different, and Trash Fiasco takes a little bit of each and swirls them together to come up with something that is, to my ears, very exciting.

The album kicks off with a staccato drum riff, then the guitar comes in, squealing and grinding, as the vocalist yelps and squeals through the verses. The tune is called Ma.lin.ger, and i can feel that this is a song to flail around oddly to, to bounce up and down as the vocalist thrashes as he sings his weird notes.

Then we get a nice chimy guitar riff on the next tune, Mirror & Label. When the vocalist comes in, his voice is deep and Elvis-y with occasional yelps into a higher register, a vocal line somewhere between Glenn Danzig and Jello Biafro. On the choruses it pounds furiously, after the loping verses.

The third song, Rat Brains, shambles forward at a brearkneck pace, just pounding instruments and vocal yowls. This really reminds me of The Minutemen.

Tremolo dominates the guitar is Chimney Smoke, which gives the song a Cramps-feel.

Turned to Prey fluctuates between all out thrash and meandering but intense sections, channeling The Minutemen again here, that kind of song where it seems that, at any second, the whole thing could fly apart into chaos.

The next tune, Moloch, clocks in at five and a half minutes, by far the longest tune here. Trash Fiasco stretch out, the bass a deep fuzzy riff wandered in from some Doom Metal song, and the vocals subdued.

After the longest song, Trash Fiasco follow up with the seventy second One Bird, just squealing punk guitar, breakneck drums, and the voice jerking around.

And then finally we wrap it all up with Mama Knows Best, which starts with a marching drum riff as the vocalist cries into the microphone, then for the last minute of the tune, Trash Fiasco crank up the speed, pound away, and scream it out.

It's a short record, but it moves fast and takes no prisoners. Simply wonderful.
 
         
 
Related Links:
 

https://trashfiasco.bandcamp.com/album/exist-as-instructed
https://www.trashfiasco.com/

 
         

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