Anyone educated in the Louisville family tree of hardcore punk bands - Coliseum, Breather Resist, Young Widows, Black Cross, etc
- already knows what to expect from Prideswallower, the latest Kentucky export. But for the unfamiliar, allow me to explain:
While each band has a sound unique enough to stand on its own, there is a unifying thread to all. Well, two actually. First you can bet that one of the Patterson brothers took some role in the production of the band's release. More important, you can hear a dirty, garage rock-n-roll influence in each band's sound. They give just as much of a nod to Motörhead as they do to Black Flag.
While Black Cross are more punk, Coliseum more crust, and Breather Resist more metal, Prideswallower keep it straight forward, turning their amps up to eleven to kick out the jams no frills. If they were assigned a subgenre, grunge would be the most fitting, but imagine a sound closer to The Melvins than Nirvana or Soundgarden.
On their debut EP Prideswallower produces a noisy, distorted rock that attacks the ears without letting down. Even during the instrumental breaks, the speakers are awash in feedback. The raw sound of peaked out guitars and crashing cymbals is enough to make anyone drop their jaw and say, "HOLY FUCK!" This is the type of band that should be played at loud volumes exclusively.
Their sound is massive while using both minimal instrumentation and production. The liner notes confirm this, saying the EP was recorded with no more than a four track and a laptop, meaning Prideswallower comes to shred.
While the album may seem monotonous, it's only because the band is unrelenting in its mission to cave your skull in with overdriven riffs and a solid rhythm section.
