Review: Anachronistic “700 and 19 Ways of Decay”

One of the things that I think is wonderful about this day in age, is that so many artists are now able to start projects together that literally span the globe, with members living in different nations, different continents and/or across oceans from each other, yet still find a way to make music with each other. It would probably take a lot of dedication and patience for one thing. They would probably mostly be communicating with each other via the internet I’d imagine, not having to see each other face to face most of the time I’d imagine, but also sometimes having a major difference in time zones- and if they do actually meet each other to record, it means that one of them would’ve had to fly in from their home country to stop by the studio. But another thing is that there’s a point in time where the music that international projects produce would otherwise not have existed, and it’s only with the technology that we have today that we’ve been able to achieve such efforts. The subject of today’s review is an international duo from Poland and South Korea that fuses Hardcore Punk with Black Metal that makes up the project Anachronistic, with their debut independently released full-length 700 and 19 Ways of Decay. I always think that fusions between black metal and punk are usually a blast to listen to, so let’s see how it is.

So to start things off, the first track starts off with some dirty sounding guitars backed up with a moody atmosphere, which builds up to some pretty intense action. You have some furiously played Black Metal, which has a Hardcore influence that’s on clear display. The crusty guitar tone really makes things feel beefed up, aggressive and badass, kind of just reeking of a rebellious spirit, while also having the chaotic and cathartic Black Metal sound. The vocalist leans much more heavily on the Hardcore side of the spectrum, with rage-fueled shouts, and the delivery honestly sounds kind of barbaric. The next track, “Time to Drink” really kind of has an irreverent attitude to it that you can hear in the main riff of the song especially, which is played in more of a mid-paced Hardcore Punk style. The vocals throughout the album don’t really vary all that much, which isn’t a bad thing to me, because I like the delivery- I could probably compare it to, a mad Mongol pillaging your village, or maybe a homeless man going berserk after smoking some PCP(and I mean that in a fairly endearing way, it’s kind of what makes it stand out to me)- but there’s one part where you hear the vocalist deliver this absolutely feral sounding high note where he’s saying “SWIIIIIIISH”- and I think that has to be one of the most memorable moments on the album for me. Then of course the faster sections in that song as well have an intensity to them, feeling like a little bit of an adrenaline rush. It definitely seems like one of those songs that you can imagine getting drunk and destroying stuff to.

Another song that really stood out to me, is the song “Festering Stench”. It has a pretty pervasive ominous, grim tone that conveys almost a feeling of terror in a way, and the main melody of the track only becomes more caustic throughout. And even though the vocalist doesn’t really vary much in register, you can see in this song especially that his delivery varies in emotional tone somewhat, because even his vocals have an ominous and foreboding feel to them because of the intensity of his delivery. I would almost say that there are a lot of moments that remind me of Young and In the Way to some extent- obviously both bands infuse their Black Metal with Hardcore Punk stylings, but I’d also say that they do both have a little bit of a Swedish Black Metal feel to them away, especially in the parts of the songs that pick up a lot more in speed- only the vocals remind me a lot more of the sort of vocals you’d hear in a Powerviolence band like Spazz more than anything. So I could almost say that it seems almost akin to a Powerviolence vocalist being thrown into a Black Metal band really, and in my personal opinion, Powerviolence is probably where you find some of the most angry sounding vocals- and that’s pretty much what you get with the vocalist of this project. The song “Follow the Rules or Die” probably encapsulates that the best, because it has this feeling of unbridled rage and indignation, directed at tyrannical, authoritarian regimes presumably, as what may be assumed from the title of the song. So I really have a lot of praise for the vocals on this album more than anything if I’m being honest. The guitar and drum work are decent enough for sure, and I didn’t pick up too, too much on the bass side of things, but the vocals for me are what really sell this album, and kind of helps it stand out from the crowd a little bit more. But that’s not to say that the rest of the music on this album isn’t worth talking about either.

The guitar work leans much more on the Black Metal side of things mostly. Whenever the Hardcore elements come in, like I said before, they sound pretty badass. But most of the riffs are very Black Metal, and they sound very scathing, chaotic and sinister. Probably the most standout moment I heard when listening to the album was probably in the beginning and (if I’m not mistaken) the middle parts of “Hatred for Work Causes Gout”, where you can just hear this bend in the riff that just sounds so freakin’ wicked. But other than that it’s like, the guitars do their job nicely, but they’re not what makes the album overly memorable. Same goes for the drums- they work as intended for the music, but I didn’t hear much that really stood out and impressed me.

So overall, this is definitely a very decent album. It’s very much of an adrenaline pumping, knucklescraper of an album. There’s a little bit of a duality between vocals that stand out, and instruments that don’t stand out all that much, but it’s simple in execution, and it’s perfect fuel for flying into a blind rage to destroy some furniture, maybe aggressively working out or busting some skulls (although personally, I would not condone anybody reading this getting the bright idea of actually listening to this while they bust some people’s skulls in an Arby’s parking lot-please don’t take that suggestion seriously). But honestly sometimes that’s all you need in an album! I haven’t been working out all that much myself lately, but I think I could definitely lift some weights to this album. So overall I’m going to have to give it about a 7.5/10. It’s good for sure, and if you like aggressive sounding Black Metal, maybe even enjoy certain Hardcore genres, you might enjoy this. I’d recommend giving it a listen for yourself so you can form your own opinions on it. And if you like it enough to buy physical copies, you can find the 12 inch and the CD on their Bandcamp. But until next time, I hope you have a kickass day!