Review by Gav Revolt
I found out about this band early 2002 from a friend on my girlfriends university animation course. He hails from Tangaroa's hometown on Leeds, and has known both of their guitarists for some time. Last March we travelled down to see Tangaroa play in the Bassment, along with Charger, From The Ashes, Madman Is Absolute, Churn & Narcosis. In all honesty, i had no idea what to expect, and right from the off i hadn't a clue what i'd witnessed, i'm still baffled of what to make of it to this day. <br> <br> You see, Tangaroa aren't a band that everyone will enjoy listening to. They blend a variety of styles of metal together into something that whilst covering a lot of bases, still maintains an identity that is all their own. Previously, their sole recorded output were two tracks on their first demo Ever Fucked A Black Metal Whore, and frankly, i couldn't get into it and to this day i still can't. <br><br> Thankfully their newest, self titled ep is a completely different story! <br><br> First track (Before The Future Has Begun) sets the mood, a collection of strange torute sample over a throbbing background, leading into some building violin parts. This section merely serves as an intro to the ep which properly kicks off with Cowardice Towards a Princess. This track was recently featured in a Terrorizer unsigned bands free CD, but is certainly not the highlight of this release. The track kicks off with a crushing set of chords, before making its way off into complete widdlefest of a song. There are elements of American style technical death metal, Godflesh style industrial metal and shear all our shredding guitar work, whilst samples can be heard at various stages to augment the music. <br><br> Third track (Standing In A Room, Asleep For Days) is another instrumental track, serving as a pregnant pause of a simple piece with just drums & bass with a sprinkling of ambient samples. <br><br> Stricken Saint, Slave To Murder is the track that makes this ep fantastic. Clocking in at 7 minutes in length, it takes the stylings mentioned for Cowardice Towards a Princess, sticks it back down its own throat, shit it out, eats it all over again and it still can't fully digest itself. (i'm not sure where i'm going with that metaphor). Anyway, its a storming track, fantastic sample at the start about methods to kill people with rats and blowtorches (yum). This track has a far bigger godflesh influence, but also contains some fantastic stilted rythmns that Meshuggah and The Dillinger Escape Plan could feel proud of. <br><br> The fifth and final track, No More Talk of Knives, is an outro piece, again instrumental and sounds like a sinister calm after the storm. Strings and samples are used to great affect again. <br><br> To check Tangaroa out for yourself, check their mp3.com page where all their tracks are available from both demos. it can be found <a href="http://uk.artists.mp3s.com/artists/220/tangaroa.html"><b>here</b></a>
Linear Mode
