Record of the Week: The Apparition: Verbrauch cassette

The Apparition: Verbrauch cassette (Total Peace Records) Originally released in the UK on Brainrotter Records (Bobby from Total Con / the Annihilated’s label), Arizona’s Total Peace Records brings us a US pressing of the excellent debut cassette from this band out of Leeds, England. While Total Peace describes the Apparition’s music as “angular,” this doesn’t have the stark rhythmic shifts and dramatic, precisely-executed changes I associate with that adjective. Instead, I hear the Apparition’s music as a gnarled roar that’s kind of blurry around the edges. That’s not a slight at all; while the basement-level performance and recording quality you hear on the Apparition’s debut can make a lot of bands sound half-baked and generic, in this case it creates an intriguing space where their vibes can percolate. Total Peace’s description also references 80s Yugoslavian punk, and there’s something similar happening with a lot of those bands… a foreboding atmosphere, like there’s something strange and frightening—but intriguing—lurking just out of sight, imbuing the listening experience with a kind of electric charge. Fans of raw 80s European hardcore with a touch of death rock to it (Nog Watt, Tožibabe, etc.) will be stoked to blast this late at night by candlelight.