These guys have been waging quite an intense advertising campaign online recently – some of you who are regular Myspace users may have already been added by the band, and intrigued by their catchphrase `Immune to humans?’. For those of you who haven’t come across this band before – they are a 3-piece band from Southampton who make an intense racket!
Described by various sources as `hardcore’, `post-hardcore’, `rock/noise’ (and the list goes on) – it may be easier to list things they have not been compared to! Some things they are definitely not: weak, mild-mannered (I mean musically of course), gentle. The three tracks on this CD positively burst out of the speakers to punch your lights out.
It is a refreshing change indeed to hear a modern CD that doesn’t have that ultra-clinical, over-processed production. Everything about the production on this EP is raw, powerful, gritty and massive – there is an intense live feel about it that really adds to the head-crushing atmosphere. The drums have a subtle amount of `practise room’ reverb on them, and the whole thing sounds like they are playing right in front of you. The guitar sound in particular had me salivating – it has a huge throbbing depth to it, which reminds me a little of early Bolt Thrower albums! It really is nice to hear a band associated with some sort of `core’ genre that haven’t just swallowed some reconstituted At The Gates riffs and a tub of polish, only to regurgitate it out onto a CD for flop-haired teenyboppers to enjoy for ten minutes. Sorry, old man-style rant over.
So – the three songs on display here are massive. I don’t mean that they are thirty minute epics with long, noodling parts, but that the sound generated by this three-piece is huge, and angry too. Every song is blisteringly intense, and stomps all over the listener with barely controlled rage – there are few fancy time signatures or complex technical musings; instead Hummune focus their anger and intensity into hypnotic pounding rhythms, monstrous riffs and waves of jarring noise.
The most obvious musical reference points as far as I can tell are Helmet and Unsane – both bands also employ similar musical shock tactics, but somehow Hummune have their own sound too, with some epic, hypnotic guitar-work and creative, intricate drumming thrown in for good measure, amidst all the crashing and pounding. Each track stands out on its own – as there are only three tracks on this EP I’d have to say that each track is a highlight in its own right! Opener `Bullets Rust’ comes straight in without introducing itself and smashes into your ears with malicious intent – the opening riff is a great beast which really sets the tone for the rest of the EP. The band have an equally direct approach to lyrics – each line is short, sharp and barked out with much feeling.
Rather than pigeon-hole the band into any particular genre, I will say that this three track EP will appeal to anyone that likes big, angry and direct songs that stomp all over the listener. If I could sum up Hummune in three words (to match their three songs and three members) I would say - intense, huge, stomping.
http://www.myspace.com/hummune
