If pure organized chaos in music form sounds interesting to you, you will want to check out the new 4 song ep from ISF. Even if it doesn’t sound appealing, it’s worth checking out and definitely not a waste of your 6 minutes.
ISF is the brainchild of James Nicholls, originating from the UK. The self-described one man noise project has recently released their debut ep on ZAP Records. Nicholls quotes Darren Malakian (System of a Down) in the liner notes and pretty much sums up the approach to the project…”We dont care what anyone says. If we like it we like it. Thats the way free form of art should be. You should be free to express yourself. There is no such thing as a bad idea”. With that in mind, go check out the Bandcamp link and listen for yourself.
This ep if fast and furious. “Feel It” reminds me a lot of older Training for Utopia as there is an underlying rhythm to the noise layered over the top. Add in spoken work and vocals that would be almost at home in the Chariot or TFU and you get an idea of what is going on. “Kill It” is next up and opens with some ominous bass sounds and is primarily a bass-driven instrumental with some interesting drum patterns and noise. “Conceal It” starts out with some very raw punk-like vocals that abruptly shift into guttural grindcore complete with squeals. Sometimes songs need to be short and this is the case here as I’m not sure I could take much more than a minute of this. The ep closes with “Reveal it” that has highly distorted screaming vocals overtop of a droning riff that eventually stops, leaving the listener with something that sounds a bit like distorted breathing or wheezing, which may actually reflect what the listener feels as there is a lot of intensity packed into this six minute package.
Written by John Jackson
Rating: 8/10
Tracklist
1. Feel
2. Kill
3. Conceal
4. Reveal
Band Members
James Nicholls –all instruments, vocals
Record Label: ZAP Records, Aug. 2017