Kuaför Cengiz/Graveyard – Split
This split between US act Graveyard and Turkish act Kuaför Cengiz, the latter of which translates as Hairdresser Genghis, has a common factor of one band member playing in both acts namely RAz K, as he is called in Graveyard and as Al Bayrak in Kuaför Cengiz. It is not often I get a vinyl to review but this is the case for this split which comes as a gatefold and as far as I know it is only available in this format.
On the surface Kuaför Cengiz offer a set of songs that seem to be fairly straightforward but as you delve deeper into them you realise there is a whole lot going on that you easily miss if not paying attention and whilst tagged as grindcore they aren’t quite within what I would call grindcore traditionally. Their experimental music has tenets of the genre but pushes much more into avenues where a chaotic structure is preferred but not into noisecore strains. The opener “Atomik Hurdacı” has a serene start with an eerie tone before delving into an industrialised structure and the vocals having blackened tone. The band likes to flood the listener with meandering fluctuations in tempo delivered by the frenetic drum work as the vocals take on an almost theatric spoken tone. “PVC’lenmiş Orijinal İncil Sayfaları” is totally different, being slower with a doom like flavour but loaded with drum work initially, the song quickly shifts into what you’d call proper grind with a sporadic blast. Preferring not to stick with any one riff for too long the track chops around keeping you engaged creating a rabid volatility. There are rafts of excellent riffs that appear from nowhere and hang about before being obliterated by blast beats as the songs scour the fringes of black, death, doom and of course grind. I do like the drum work on these songs, a lot of fills are used to highlight the riffs with perpetually changing tempos and the use of cymbal work emphasises the slower sections formidably as do the bass riffs that plunder songs like “Resadiye Özlem”. This is a challenging set of songs with a mission to provoke the sonic grey matter and test your mettle which it will do in bucket loads as each listen will provide you with something different every time.
Graveyard’s contribution to this split is wholly on a different level and I am sure that when people get to listen to this some will be immediately put off by the dissonant clamouring racket that seems to eschew from the speakers when you first play it, it does take some time for the brain to sort it out and decide what the hell is going on with it. After the initial sample of narration followed by noise a chaotic maelstrom of drums, screams and bass billows out. The spoken vocals continue and everything teems out like a torrent into your ears, your mind flits around wondering what to concentrate on. There are no gaps between the songs, everything flows as one seamless slab of auditory experimentation. What stands out are the vocals which come across as narrated monologues they morph cohesively into other forms such as blackened snarls which are truly acerbic at times. The opener “Sacrifice” berates the listener with its barbarity and spoken vocals before switching to the relatively catchy “There Is No Escape” with its infectious guitar hook. Like I said the songs flow into the other as “Serve The State” switches speed being urgently executed and discordant with tortured vocal emanations and the lead guitar seemingly playing of its own accord. The insertion of random effects like sirens makes the listening experience unpredictable but much of this is extremely catchy even though the guitar work assails like whips never quite knowing what is going to happen next as various sound effects are added, sound samples often over stimulating the listener to the point of oblivion. There are points where it is relatively calm before outright feral aggression is brandished especially vocally which at times are utterly terrifying as the whole side bubbles with caustic tension especially on “Genocide Reveloution” with its diatribe of narrated vocals. This is a challenging set of songs to listen to, but who said music had to be easy, Graveyard have written a set of songs whose sole intention is to disturb you, make you uncomfortable and with that they have absolutely succeeded.
Whether it is possible to actually enjoy and relish music like this depends on your tolerance of auditory masochism and if you want to hear it you’ll have to take the plunge and buy it, and since my tolerance for self-inflicted experimental aural flagellation is high it gets a decent score.
On the surface Kuaför Cengiz offer a set of songs that seem to be fairly straightforward but as you delve deeper into them you realise there is a whole lot going on that you easily miss if not paying attention and whilst tagged as grindcore they aren’t quite within what I would call grindcore traditionally. Their experimental music has tenets of the genre but pushes much more into avenues where a chaotic structure is preferred but not into noisecore strains. The opener “Atomik Hurdacı” has a serene start with an eerie tone before delving into an industrialised structure and the vocals having blackened tone. The band likes to flood the listener with meandering fluctuations in tempo delivered by the frenetic drum work as the vocals take on an almost theatric spoken tone. “PVC’lenmiş Orijinal İncil Sayfaları” is totally different, being slower with a doom like flavour but loaded with drum work initially, the song quickly shifts into what you’d call proper grind with a sporadic blast. Preferring not to stick with any one riff for too long the track chops around keeping you engaged creating a rabid volatility. There are rafts of excellent riffs that appear from nowhere and hang about before being obliterated by blast beats as the songs scour the fringes of black, death, doom and of course grind. I do like the drum work on these songs, a lot of fills are used to highlight the riffs with perpetually changing tempos and the use of cymbal work emphasises the slower sections formidably as do the bass riffs that plunder songs like “Resadiye Özlem”. This is a challenging set of songs with a mission to provoke the sonic grey matter and test your mettle which it will do in bucket loads as each listen will provide you with something different every time.
Graveyard’s contribution to this split is wholly on a different level and I am sure that when people get to listen to this some will be immediately put off by the dissonant clamouring racket that seems to eschew from the speakers when you first play it, it does take some time for the brain to sort it out and decide what the hell is going on with it. After the initial sample of narration followed by noise a chaotic maelstrom of drums, screams and bass billows out. The spoken vocals continue and everything teems out like a torrent into your ears, your mind flits around wondering what to concentrate on. There are no gaps between the songs, everything flows as one seamless slab of auditory experimentation. What stands out are the vocals which come across as narrated monologues they morph cohesively into other forms such as blackened snarls which are truly acerbic at times. The opener “Sacrifice” berates the listener with its barbarity and spoken vocals before switching to the relatively catchy “There Is No Escape” with its infectious guitar hook. Like I said the songs flow into the other as “Serve The State” switches speed being urgently executed and discordant with tortured vocal emanations and the lead guitar seemingly playing of its own accord. The insertion of random effects like sirens makes the listening experience unpredictable but much of this is extremely catchy even though the guitar work assails like whips never quite knowing what is going to happen next as various sound effects are added, sound samples often over stimulating the listener to the point of oblivion. There are points where it is relatively calm before outright feral aggression is brandished especially vocally which at times are utterly terrifying as the whole side bubbles with caustic tension especially on “Genocide Reveloution” with its diatribe of narrated vocals. This is a challenging set of songs to listen to, but who said music had to be easy, Graveyard have written a set of songs whose sole intention is to disturb you, make you uncomfortable and with that they have absolutely succeeded.
Whether it is possible to actually enjoy and relish music like this depends on your tolerance of auditory masochism and if you want to hear it you’ll have to take the plunge and buy it, and since my tolerance for self-inflicted experimental aural flagellation is high it gets a decent score.
Kuaför Cengiz
- Atomik Hurdacı
- PVC’lenmiş Orijinal İncil Sayfaları
- Ali Amca
- Reşadiye Özlem
- Davulcu Fikret
- İETT 1871
- Bilet Var
- Kömür Lokantası
- Balık Ekmek Hakkım Var
Graveyard
- Sacrifice
- There is No Escape
- Serve the State
- After Thy Bodies Burn
- The Portal
- Incinerator
- Genocide Revolution
- Make Us Great Again
- Slaughtered by Chemicals
- Opus V (Reprise)
Label: https://www.profs.cz
Reviewer: twansibon
Sep 5, 2018
Sep 5, 2018
Next review:
Sacred Leather - Ultimate Force
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