Siphon: Stark Raving Mad 7"

Siphon: Stark Raving Mad 7” (Black Water Records) Portland’s Black Water Records goes bi-coastal to bring us the debut 7” from this new Richmond hardcore band featuring members of Suffocating Madness, Spore, Future Terror, and Benderheads, among many others. Right off the bat, this will remind you of the recent wave of gnarly Richmond d-beat and hardcore bands, particularly Destruct… Siphon’s mix swims in a similar sea of distortion, fuzz, and noise, and will certainly appeal to fans of that aesthetic. But while this sounds familiar on the surface, the band’s playing has a lot of personality. The vocals are great, with lots of rasp but clear enough to hear the lyrics. I wish they were a little more prominent in the mix, actually, but having them under constant threat of drowning in noise is also a cool effect. The riffs are interesting, not swaying too far from your standard Discharge-influenced style, but executed with these sharp angles. It’s hard to explain in words, but while some guitarists play smooth as butter, Siphon’s guitarist has all these jagged edges where they jump between chords in a sudden, dramatic way. The drama is accentuated by the drumming, which packs the songs with unexpected fills that never start or end quite where I expected them to, giving these songs a thrillingly unstable feel, like a landmine that could explode at any second. With only about five minutes of music, it’s time to get up and flip the record again by the time you’ve started poring over Joe B’s always-fantastic artwork, but better to leave ‘em wanting more, right? Let’s hope we get it, because this is a ripping debut.