The presence of dissonance and electronic elements in hardcore today speaks for itself. It’s okay, nay, encouraged to embrace a bully’s approach to structure and melody, shaking both down ’til they tumble in and out of consciousness. Leeched, thankfully, are far more direct in their approach. On their full-length debut You Took The Sun When You Left, the Limeys embrace a sledgehammer like tactic – just repeatedly hitting as hard as they can, in varying patterns, ultimately aiming for to leave a bloody stump left where the bits between the ears used to be. It sure is noisy. Noisy and incessant, whether that’s a pro or a con, it’s anybody’s guess.
The Dummies Guide To Leeched would have a few chapters dedicated to bands that people will comment with under subsequent YouTube videos ascertaining to this record – Xibalba, Code Orange, Harm’s Way. Like it or lump it, all bands using sound in one fashion, whether technical, straight-forward or tough enough to punch through a supplement store. You Took The Sun When You Left in it’s early and final stages shows off blackened, noisy hardcore of a furious fashion, warming the heart of any who worry that the next generation is slacking off in the contempt department. Taking on all comers as a trio, the energy focused on battery and aural harassment thrives in the noise environment around it. For the most part.
Leeched’s debut has layer upon layer of rough textures and sounds. It’s all fine and well doing big, dirty riffs and even filthier shifts, but the onslaught of sound on You Took The Sun When You Left definitely adds a whole other presence to the record. Just this month, Jesus Piece used a similar tactic of having every booming hit threaten to punch through speakers directly into faces. It’s risky, because when the majority of the music exists between the open string and the first five frets, the only other sounds come from the unlistenable noise and shrieking guitars cutting through the brick-meet-face assault from the strings. And the stabbing cuts that definitely work better in a live environment.
There’s a wild powerviolence LP in here if every second track was cut in half, cranked up 40bpm and let completely loose. “A Mouthful of Dirt” through “Hollow Point Weddings” trudge through impetuously and slovenly, the angry younger sibling of the high-impact tracks, dragging their heels at the extreme metal family reunion. Anyone in the presence of these riffs knows how great it is when the riff comes back, but slower. After hearing the same trick in every other track, it loses a lot of its impact.
Leeched batter through their debut, maintaining a carnal attack of fuzz and bloody knuckles throughout. The bludgeoning quickly letting out steam through the middle, rolling to a lull through the final third before injecting some fuel for a final flurry. This sound will fill rooms and incite primal moshing and stomping and swinging. That’s okay but maybe You Took The Sun When You Left needs some taming? Or does it need to be prodded and angered? The next record will tell, but this one does a good job of smashing up the china shop and body slamming the bull at the same time. Maybe not one to put on if you’re stuck in traffic.
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You Took the Sun When You Left is out now via Prosthetic Records, and is available for purchase on the band’s Bandcamp page.