United Nations

Never Mind The Bombings, Here’s Your Six Figures EP

 

Mysterious screamo supergroup United Nations’ latest calculated wave of caustic, slightly chaotic hardcore comes in the form of a four-song 7-inch for Deathwish Inc., Never Mind The Bombings, Here’s Your Six Figures. Since we last heard from the band, they got in some legal troubles with the actual UN, and had a version of their self-titled debut full-length from 2008 featuring a mockup of the Beatles’ Abbey Road kept from being sold in stores due to copyright issues. We hope John Lydon understands parody as well as he does butter.

As Figures supposedly comes from the same session as United Nations, it’s not too far off that stylistic end—a blistering, somewhat spazzy and intermittently grindy take on ’90s screamo that nails the halfway point between Majority Rule’s brutal onslaught and Raein’s cacophonous melody. With Thursday’s Geoff Rickly at the vocal helm, other times the EP may as well be Thursday dropped into a blender and the “CAUTERIZE” button pressed. But opener “Pity Animal” has it all: Rickly’s raspy, jagged scream and occasionally more melodic, fractured yelp; lightning-quick drum fills; and a muffled spoken-word part.

While the next two tracks are relatively solid in and of themselves, it’s the closing title track that brings the attention-grabbing dynamics, buzzsaw riffs and fussy percussive flails the best—and even though it’s nearly impossible to get solidified credits on who the hell is in this band at any given moment, we’re pretty sure that’s Kevin Baker of labelmates the Hope Conspiracy adding his fierce, verklempt bark to this track’s already tumultuous and collapsing proceedings. It’s a little something extra for the post-and-otherwise-hardcore act, and an especially interesting tease with a score of releases still expected from the band ahead.

Deathwish Inc. http://www.deathwishinc.com

“Never Mind The Bombings, Here’s Your Six Figures”