Elizabeth

Artist: 
Album Title: 
Insomnia
Release Date: 
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Review Type: 

Switzerland's Geneva based Elizabeth have been forging their way in the Hardcore scene since May 2009, and released their self-recorded 5-track Demo 2010 on a limited rotation of 150 cassette tapes, which the band sold out quite swiftly at the pomotional shows following the release in Nov. 2010..

The guys' next recordings, for the 8-track 12-inch EP Where Vultures Land, was given a slightly more professional approach. Recordings, mixing and mastering was done by Serge Spiga, and the albums was released in a collaboration between Throatruiner and I For Us. The 500 copies of the EP however easily found their way to the fans again, and so eventually it was decided to put the band's material of both the demo and the EP onto one 12-inch LP, under the changed title of Where Vultures Land – Deluxe Edition, and with new cover art. No idea how many copies of that compilation album were released, but they were put out on the streets in June 2013 in a collaboration with Lost Pilgrim Records.

The new release at hand is a 7-inch vinyl affair (also available as download), and gathers 4 short Hardcore Crust songs with a total length of just under 8 minutes! With a line-up consisting of only 3 members, including singer Charly Boson, guitarist Javier Varela and drummer Matthieu Baumann, it seems unbelievable that they might actually create that much of a ruckus as a mere trio though, and I'm guessing the line-up cited at (www.) facebook.com/elizabethpunk is a transition one, where the guys probably just lost a bassist, you know? Either that, or they forgot to mention that Charly also handles the bass! Still, what with his exceptionally aggressive type of vocals in mind, I rather think he needs all of his concentration for the singing alone. The other guys perform admirably too, with the drummer pummeling through mountain-high percussion with excellence, and the guitarist bringing a huge wall of (melodic) sound! Well, the clarity of the sound is perhaps best explaned by the fact that this time around, following the recordings and mixing by Raphaël Bovey, additional engineering was done by the renowned Kurt Balou at his Godcity studio, before the results were sent off to Stockholm's The Vilhelm Room for mastering by Magnus Lindberg. I mean, with Balou involved in there...you know! Personally, I've always been into the more extreme forms of music in general, and Hardcore Crust not being an exception to that rule, it is refreshing to find a band in the genre on a recording which sounds as “clear” as this one!

At the band's own (www.) ezbth.com, you will find a video for Where Vultures Land's opening track “Darkness”, and links to the band's pages on facebook, Big Cartel and BandCamp. At the latter is where you can listen to àll of the band's material, including the current EP. I'd say...check it out, perhaps?

89/100