Genocide District – Revolutions (EP/2013)
Artist: Genocide District
Album: Revolutions EP
Imagine if color gave off sound. At first, it would seem…irritating, distracting, and–should you attend an electronic music festival–deafening. It begs the question: would these colors sing true to the stigmas we’ve attached to them? Would blue be gloomy? Would pink be high pitched and awkwardly feminine? I guess where I’m going with this is the corollary—how would our favorite albums be “colored,” so to speak? Would things get increasingly muddy and closer to black as they got heavier? If so, then the latest release by down-tempo deathcore dreadnaught Genocide District would transcend to a level of murk and darkness previously un-seen by the human eye. Revolutions is an EP which makes a brilliant use of bitter beatdown, devastating deathcore and surreal, atmospheric sludge to create an experience which is as thick as liquid concrete, as hard as nails and heavier than ten anvils.
Revolutions sucks the listener in with the greatest and most powerful magnet to mankind’s ears and attention span: curiosity. Genocide District begin their release with mountains of subtle atmosphere and slow-but-steady build-up, which stacks upon itself until it collapses upon the listener in a suffocating tidal wave of grimy sludge. “Immortality” uses this introduction to capitalize on the band’s penchant for the down-tempo, bitter and brooding atmosphere which they can conjure out of mid air. Deep, muddy guitars sloppily splash grime and filth upon a canvas of pounding, pummeling percussion. The result is an effect which leaves the listener battered, bruised and covered in muck. The incessant hammering of the downtuned instrumentation is not the sole factor in creating the band’s unique, immeasurably dense and foggy atmosphere. A continuous guttural, low-end attack by the vocals keep the listener’s ears swollen and shredded, as rasping, harsh mid range screams battle back and forth with unimaginably low growls to keep the songs dense and heavy, even when the song’s atmosphere begins to clear. This is exceptionally true of the lead single, “Face Two Face,” in which the guest vocalist provides another take on the embittered, trademark beatdown-styled harsh yell, contrasting brilliantly with Genocide District’s resident preacher of hate and anger.
Genocide District are more than just a hyper-bitter, super-sludgy beatdown band, however. Revolutions makes brilliant use of some elements of fast-paced, lacerating deathcore to keep songs from dipping into monotonous stagnancy. By including break-neck moments of peerless aggression and engaging speed, Genocide District are able to smoothly incorporate a technical, unexpected element to their music which provides the impression (and proves the existence) of true mastery of their genre. Muddy, crusty and trudging riffs are able to–at the drop of a hat–pick up the pace and transform into shredding, stunning segments of technically masterful fret work. The percussion, surprisingly enough, is more than able to keep up–accelerating from a plodding, pulsing pound to a blisteringly fast machine-gun blast beat with little warning. “Conformist” and the opening portion of “No Remorse” are stellar examples of this, making use of hard-hitting blast beats and riffs so sharp they feel as if they’ll cut the listener’s ears clean off. The ability of Genocide District to flow smoothly from fast to slow, and include a variety of influences into their signature sound of soul-smothering, sinister down-tempo is a dynamic which is born only through masterful use of musical dialectic.
This dynamic prevents any form of monotony from plaguing Revolutions. Including brilliant amounts of atmosphere alongside unimaginably weighty breakdowns and slams, Genocide District prove they are veritable masters of their genre. “No Remorse” is the single best example that the EP has to offer–even in spite of each track’s near-perfection. “No Remorse” includes the heaviest breakdowns and the most blazing, speedy riffs Genocide District have to offer on one track. And while the guitars oscillate from low to high, and the percussion flows from fast to slow, the vocals maintain a belligerent, constant attack, which keeps the listener penitent throughout the entire track. Indeed, all of Revolutions weighs so heavily on the listener’s ears that once it sets in, the listener will only be able to move just enough to bang their head.
When stunning, speedy deathcore meets bruising, boundlessly heavy beatdown, Revolutions is born. With slams heavier than sin, and blast beats that sound like weapons of mass murder, Genocide District bring every element of beatdown, hardcore, down-tempo and deathcore together to create a smooth, stunning execution of not just their music, but of the listener as well.
10/10
For Fans Of: Immoralist, Towers, Ender, Black Tongue
By: Connor Welsh
