Album Review: Plaguebearer - Some Kind Of Spanisham EP

If Torche and Converge aren’t your bag, you may as well stop reading now. It’s not that Plaguebearer are rip-off merchants, it’s just clear they are big fans. The obscurely titled ‘Some Kind Of Spanisham’, the three-track debut from this Swindon four-piece, melds together perfectly the stoner stomp of Torche with the frantic thrash of Converge. The EP is good as far as the genre goes, but unfortunately has moments where the idol-worship dips to close to plagiarism.

Kicking off in frantic style, opening track ‘Belle Vue Hive’ sounds like a typical thrash track to start with; hectic guitar play, treble-time drumming and the guttural vocals so often used in this genre. However, about midway through the track it mutates into something different. Taking on the soundscapes utilised by bands such as Torche and Pelican, the second half of the track really shows off the bands musicianship and actually becomes a much more noteworthy track. The electronic fuzz at the end of the track means the change between the opening track and ‘Go Until We Goes No More’ is seamless. The second track picks up the Torche-influence and carries on to become a solid track of magnificence. This is where we hear Plaguebearer at their original best. The track sounds like a despair-fuelled soundtrack to a parched and lonely walk in a desert landscape. The vocals roar with an intensity and a longing which adds emotion to the sludgey tune created by the band.

‘Go Until We Goes No More’ is without a doubt the summit of the EP, with final track ‘The Straw That Broke The Giants Back’ being the pit of rock bottom. The siren that opens the track serves as a warning that you may well have heard this one before. On it’s own it would be a great track if Converge hadn’t recorded and released ‘Dark Horse’ a year earlier. It is all too similar and really sounds as though it’s been pinched from the cutting room floor, all in all forming a spectacular let down to end the EP.

There is promise here without a doubt, but the last track is enough to prevent ‘Some Kind of Spanisham’ from earning the praise it could of deserved.

3/5

'Some Kind Of Spanisham' EP by Plaguebearer is available now and can be downloaded for free here.

Plaguebearer on MySpace

Dan Issitt