CHOKE ON THIS ONE

My fondness of Australia's own Extortion is well documented within the pages of this blog. Easily my favourite Australian band, and close to one of my favourites on an international level too. They've been a bit quiet for the last 18 months or more, reportedly buckling down to write some quality stuff following the less than favourable reception of their last few records. Granted, neither the split with Completed Exposition or the "Loose Screws" 10" were up to the par of the majority of their previous catalogue, but both records were none the less still entertaining. I get the impression that most of the sceptics out there believe that the band is well beyond their peak at this point, and maybe they could be, but if their contribution to this new split LP with Austria's Cold World is anything to go by, nobody has informed them yet. Three colour ways in total have been pressed for this split, this now sold out white variation that came from the bands only, and red and black (of which I will be posting about at some point in the coming weeks) direct from the label responsible, RSR. To my relief the label has forgone it's usual route in issuing this thing with dozens of variations in the cover etc (to my knowledge anyway), collecting Extortion records has certainly drained my hip pocket over the last few years. As usual, Rohan's handled the artwork for this thing. It's a bit of a departure from his usual style, but it certainly shows a relatively creative idea. What it actually means and whether he's trying to convey some kind of message here is beyond me though.

I'm trying not to sound like a fucking music reviewer here so I'll try and keep it simple. Extortion's tracks are great. Certainly their most 'pro' sounding recording at this point, the music here would arguably be the best stuff they've written since "Degenerate". I know what kind of an extremist statement that may sound like, but I mean it, really. Rohan's vocals are at their loudest and most stressed, the blasts come on thick, and the slow riffs are catchy as hell. Apart from a few new ideas in a couple of the slower, more typical hardcore tracks, this thing is classic Extortion. I don't know why I even slightly doubted whether this would be good, because it's fucking top shelf fast hardcore.

I can't get so excited about Cold World. I don't know a huge amount about them really other than the fact they go back a fair while. The first time I listened to them a few years ago they just came across to me as relatively straight forward, one dimensional, slightly crusty Euro hardcore. A lot of people rave about them, but I just can't get into them much. I have more or less the same opinion about these new songs of theirs too. Now like I said, the last time I paid them any kind of attention was years ago, but I'll be honest in that I don't really remember them taking quite the angle that they seem to be attacking here. This is fast, angry hardcore not dissimilar to what Extortion do so well with, but it's just boring. I won't rave on any further. Maybe I just need to invest a little more effort?

It may be common knowledge to most that Extortion have a few records in the pipeline at the moment, two of them being splits with American heavy weights Hatred Surge and Low Threat Profile. There's also a possibility of a brand new LP before the end of the year, depending on what the band decide. There's also talk of another split with another as of yet unnamed band (well I know who it is, but I'm not sure if I'm aloud to reveal who it is at at this point), that heaps of people are likely to get excited about. Keep em coming.