Noisear - Red Tape Agenda

In recent years, I have come to regard many Death Metal and Grindcore musicians of Latin American origin as devoted to the pursuit of an unreserved ferocity in the performance of their gloriously hideous material and a total disregard for subtlety in their artistic expressions. Though the packaging of 'Red Tape Agenda' is not saturated with high resolution photographs of cold slabbed, eviscerated cadavers, scorched human remains and freshly dead accident victims, the recording itself displays the kind of vehement delivery, unrefined sound, Crustpunk politics and gluttonous indulgence in blistering speed that elevates Noisear above many of their Mexican brethren. Geographical inter-genre artist popularity levels and underground appeal aside, this release contains fast, insistent and structurally compressed Grindcore songs Often introduced are elements of speed-infatuated Grindcore sub-genres such as Fastcore or Blurcore, combining them with a few Brutal Death/Deathgrind fundamentals, rounded off by a substantial Crust atmosphere.

Of the instruments utilised on 'Red Tape Agenda', those having instant prominence are the drums and the vokills. For these ears, the drumwork is easily the best part of the release. This is because it is performed in my favourite style of labyrinthine patterns weaved from thunderous, rapidly undulating kicks, an uncontrolled addiction to paddled snare blastbeat tattoos, transitory light-speed fills and a sprinkling of catchy, rolling breaks, the technique and execution akin to that favoured by Jordan Varela and Kikanju Baku. Other than having a comparable level of drumming virtuosity, Noisear also use arrangement methods similar to that of Baku's extremely underrated band, SMU. This involves one section of the lineup performing consistent cyclic rhythms, playing deep within the confines of the composition, to which the remaining musician/s individual, almost free-form contribution is loosely congruent, with a tendency to take precedence over the rest of the featuring instruments. But instead of swathing the listener with continuous structural discordance between the parts brought together by each instrument, Noisear enhance the appeal of the aforementioned approach by contrasting it with rounded, well-worked passages. Despite their obvious dynamics, on first listen to 'Red Tape Agenda', the guitarwork and vokills seem to be little more than bonus pull out supplements to the blast-beat driven broadsheet. However, in focussing on the overall Noisear sound, it becomes clear that the individual performances are contingient upon each other in ensuring each track dilates to its full potential over the course of its fleeting playing time. Each piece is filled solid with high density, blunt 'n' burly riff sequences, these being the foundations through which the percussive lunacy provides grotesque knobbly backbone protrusions through the compositional epidermis, upon which the excellent dual vokills act as enraged carbuncular boil formations, erupting in timely fashion with alternation between gutturalsnarls and pus-throated squeals.

The production is rather rough, further exacerbated by the significant disparity suffered by the levels of each instruments, causing them to fluctuate between song to song, the drums being the only consistent signal in the mix. Then again, keeping in mind that Noisear deal in riotous high-speed Grindcore fury, the effects of a below average production job become inconsequential, owing to the fact that such a style requires a rudimentary, unkempt production in order to compliment its uncompromisingly raucous sound and delivery. The playing time of the disc falls ever so slightly short of what I would personally consider a wholly satisfying duration, but finding the perfect album length can be difficult in committing this particular strain of Grindcore to disc. The critical point lies between ending the album before achieving sufficient fulfilment in the listener, and continuing it after the listener has become indifferent to the fact that the album is still playing. To these ears, 'Red Tape Agenda' falls into the former category, though only in the absence of perhaps two or three more songs.

The cover artwork is befitting of the aural horror the disc contains; a black and white pencil etching depicting a malformed, gangling jumble of jutting limbs and grinning heads.

In order to gain maximum enjoyment from this recording, it is best listened to without distraction, in order to prevent key principles and intentions of the tracks from becoming lost within an incomprehensible, monochromatic blur. That aside, Noisear have with 'Red Tape Agenda' produced a highly agreeable release, best suited to those who enjoy extremely fast paced, blast-fuelled Grindcore inhumanity, delivered in short, highly volatile injections.

December 20th, 2005