Fucked
up times demand a fucked up response. Unfortunately, every Tom, Dick and
Tarquin wants to form an angry metal band and most of them are about as scary
as a cheese sandwich. As a result, the return of unhinged weirdo riff warriors Barrabus should be a cause for mass celebration.
Fronted
by swivel-eyed polymath Paul Catten, they are simply one of the gnarliest and
most distinctive bands to emerge from the UK underground over the last 20
years. This band of beautifully besuited bastards first appeared as a brief but
thrilling flash in life’s shitty pan a decade ago, popping up as main support
to My Ruin, SiKth and
several more notables, but then promptly disappeared in a puff of noxious
disdain. Gloriously, the best ideas absolutely refuse to.
As
furiously fresh and snot-fuelled today as they were when they were first
penned, the songs on Barrabus’ self-titled
debut album are nothing short of an all-out, vein-bursting assault on the
senses. A lurching, flailing blur or fuzzed-up sludgecore riffing, art rock
angularity, whiplash-inducing detours and thick wads of acrid, squirming
eccentricity, it’s a powerful metal record, but one infused with an
exhilarating sense of unease and malicious mischief. Most importantly, perhaps,
Barrabus sound nothing like anything or anyone else, not least due to the
unique lyrical vision and vocal madness of their frontman demonstrated in the
new video for album track ‘Porn’.
Paul
Catten describes the video as 'life through the eyes of a porn addict.
Like a drug, waiting to get more extreme with each hit’, while
adding 'Personal experience? Who knows, but I don't know many guys who
haven't had a brief experience of addiction. It's too easy! No more mags
stashed on a wardrobe, its right there, on your phone, on your TV, on your
laptop. A disaster waiting to happen. The video, created by genius Will
Hutchinson, sums it up perfectly. Filmed on phones for the true 'amateur' feel,
Barrabus appearing in your worst porn clip viewing may just be your best/worst
wet dream'
Barrabus
released their self titled album in June via Undergroove Records.
Order now
Barrabus
