EP Review
Lavotchkin - Widow CountryLavotchkin – Widow Country

Underground but not completely under the radar, Lavotchkin have hurled their latest EP, Widow Country, through their studio window into the sonic stream. And boy do they sound pissed off. From the first riff to the last rasping scream escaping frontman Simon Tittley’s vocal chords, anger dripping from every each note, it would take a certain ignoramus to read sweetness and light into the Newcastle noiseniks’ dirge. But when your release is produced by Jason Sanderson (Rolo Tomassi, 65 Days Of Static) and mastered by Alan Douches (Mastodon, Converge), would we really expect anything less?

Straight off the bat, a war commences from frontline track The Pledge; a two minute burst sweating streams of aggression and negativity. With battle cries and menacing marching drums executed in the loudest possible way, this initial assault on the world around them holds no bars.

Up-tempo - without being in any way, shape or form upbeat - It’s A Good Day For A Wake communicates it’s anti-world message with a hook so mesmerizing it captivates you for the track in its entirety. Overlaid with yelps and barks and pain, Mr Tittley and his doom brigade have created something volatile enough to creep through the airwaves to your frontal lobes and make you want to smash shit up. Good work guys.

Issues of teenage suicide are among the topics spewing from the quintet’s lyrics, namely with their bash at ‘clumsy’ media reporting in the shape of The Werther Effect. Lavotchkin’s icing on their chaotic cake. Deathly barking makes any sort of vocal emulation nigh on impossible - unless you happen to be Eva Spence, which I’m not. Make no mistake this does not take away from the absolute shit storm that would go down at a live show; as the EP unfolds, each aggro-anthem more barbaric sounding than the last, your mind wanders to the front row and the perilous circle pits that will chew you up and spit you out.

Irukandji, incidentally a deathly poisonous jellyfish and And No Hope Did You Bring are all too similar in their genre-pushing but a touch lack lustre in comparison to their siblings. Ender and title track Widow Country finishes off with angsty vocals and well timed pace changes, culminating the EP on a positive note.

A ferocious six tracker spiked with nothing over three and a half minutes. Perhaps not one for the faint hearted, and definitely not for anyone looking for something warm and fuzzy to cwtch their ear lobes. No, Lavotchkin are the anti-pop. The anathema if you will. And these are their war songs. As guitarist Martin Downing puts it “Life’s too short to be sitting at home pissed off at the world, when you could be channelling that negative energy into something positive/creative. An exorcism metaphorically speaking I guess, though a very enjoyable one with a lot of adventures.”

4/5

Review by Jessica Acreman
 Band Members

Ben
Martin
Simon
Simon
Paul
 Track Listing

1. The Pledge / Very Bad Things
2. It's a good day for a wake
3. The Werther Effect
4. And No Hope Did You Bring
5. Irukandji
6. Widow Country

 Band Related Links
Lavotchkin Myspace
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?