These Beasts - Cares, Wills, Wants

2023-04-18 07:00:07

After two successful EPs they set out These Beasts their first album, but the recordings for the trio from Chicago were by no means easy. The loss of friends and family members as well as the enforced physical distance created numerous dark emotions that found their way into the sound of the sludge noise rock band. It turns out to be correspondingly shocking and destructive „Cares, Wills, Wants“.

Tracks like “Pecking Order” get to the heart of the American trio’s entertaining originality. Noise rock is the focus without going overboard. There is no room for endless feedback loops, instead the nasty sludge impact provides a certain infernal note that wears you down and entertains at the same time. In said track, occasional moments of shadowy catchiness meet brute force with hoarse screams and some nagging, while the arrangement marches downright stubbornly. It ends with a sudden bang, and that fits perfectly.

It takes a little while for “Cocaine Footprints” to get to the point, but that’s more than okay. The tough, grueling structure searches for its stoner sludge groove, takes several small instrumental rides with it and in the meantime even declares the vocals to be another instrument, deeply and unapproachably embedded in the arrangement. Smaller variations, thunderous bass rumble and sharp-edged rage afterwards entertained. Only in “Trap Door” does the more experimental noise side come through a little stronger, already skilfully started with the bizarrely sampled intro. However, instead of getting lost in endless distortion, These Beasts enrich these seven and a half minutes with all kinds of madness, skilfully burn themselves into the back room.

The noose is skilfully tightened with each pass without overdoing it – sounds strange, but works wonderfully. The stubbornness of These Beasts comes through in a refreshing way. Their noise rock isn’t too extreme and odd, the sludge isn’t too brute, and so they meet in a kind of golden mean that catches your ear, but also grabs and bites courageously when it has to. “Cares, Wills, Wants” celebrates the ugliness of being, strongly accompanied by the tenderest glimmer of hope. This unruly bastard won’t let go in the most pleasant sense.

Rating: 8/10

Available from: 04/21/2023
Available through: Magnetic Eye Records / Prophecy Productions (Soulfood Music)

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thesebeasts