Bad Manifest: S/T 7"

Bad Manifest: S/T 7"


Tags: · 10s · clearance · clearancesticker · hardcore · recommended · spo-default · spo-disabled · UK · USHC
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"Slashing and snarling out of North Yorkshire town Harrogate, comes Bad Manifest. Three young skate punks raised on DIE KREUZEN, VOID and BONES BRIGADE videos, who have created a unique sound of deranged, raw, outsider hardcore punk. While influences from the weirder side of early 80's US hardcore shine through, there's also a dark anarcho underbelly to this beast. Bad Manifest have clearly witnessed the intensity of UK bands of recent years like PERSPEX FLESH, MOB RULES and NO and filtered it into their adolescent skate core brains. However, the way this thing is composed makes it no re-hash. Reverb riddled vocals and chorus soaked guitars meet rolling bass lines and catchy, eclectic drum beats. And to boot there's timing changes that will confuse the pit and excite you into a pogo frenzy! Listen to this on repeat while you're skating curbs then go home and cry yourself to sleep because you wish you could have written a record like this when you were 17!" (Bryan Suddaby)

Our take: Debut 7" from this band out of North Yorkshire, England (who cheekily refer to their genre as NYHC). While on the surface Bad Manifest might seem like a straightforward hardcore band, dig just slightly deeper and you'll find that there's a lot more to them than that. The chorus effect on the guitar sound--which is much more common among post-punk-inspired bands than hardcore bands--is the first clue that these folks aren't just out to ape some revered USHC 7", but more than just the sound there's the songwriting. The riffs are incredibly dense and subtly melodic, taking a density and complexity that I'd associate more with a heritage of bands from Killing Joke to Leatherface, speeding it up, and making it work with a brutally fast and aggressive hardcore rhythm section. The songs are also incredibly complex as well, full of surprising little twists and turns that reward an attentive listen. The combination of subtle melodicism and straightforward aggression recalls the vibe of Sorry State favorites like Sickoids and Skemäta (though without so much of the latter's crust and d-beat influences), and if you respond to those bands I would very strongly recommend checking out this one as well.