Finally Baptists‘ debut LP is looming over the horizon after what feels like the longest wait, and this is one of my most anticipated records of the year. Following up from the monumental self titled EP from 2010, Bushcraft is set to release the Vancouver quartet’s full power on an unprecedented scale.
First listens can be deceptive. Sometimes you can love something initially, sometimes you can hate it. Well, I’m just not sure with this. It’s good, don’t get me wrong on that, but I think this may take a couple of listens before I start to really hear it. There’s a definite change of sound from the EP, but who wants every record to sound the same anyway?
There are some instant vibes of other bands, but that could just be the auto-click I get in my head every time I listen to anything Kurt Ballou has set his hands on. I’ll give it to him, he knows how to make good music sound so utterly perfect. It’s definitely on the crustier side of hardcore, but with sludgy rock overtones, it stands out from the usual crowd a bit.
It’s pummelling heavy, laden with wicked riffs, a sturdy first full-length that will hopefully catch even more ears than the EP. Chugging along at a rapid pace, you’ll come to the end of it a tad quicker than imagined for eleven tracks, but it loops round on itself so nicely it’d be a shame to put something else on really. Ending on some of the most stand out tracks (in my opinion) and wrapping up with the flawless ‘Abandon’ this record really does end on a high note.
This really is an expectation changer of a record in the best way imaginable. Get on it sharpish, because I can imagine copies of this won’t be hanging around too long once people start realising what a corker of an album it is.
FFO: Rise & Fall, Converge, Coliseum.
Bushcraft will be released on February 18th on Southern Lord Records.
Review by Kat Preston.
