Bursting onto the scene with their sophomore album Please Explode (Relapse) Carolina four-piece Columns have produced an album that manages to do exactly what it says on the tin. Right from the first note the album hurtles the listener through 16 tracks and 34 minutes of ceaseless brutality in an explosion of frantic beats and riffs.
With the prevalence of computer editing, the band seems keen to project to their DIY ethic stating that there are ‘no triggers or sound replacement on the drums, no pitch shifting on the vocals.’ Although this should create a more organic sound splattered with inviting inaccuracies, there is a tendency for the tracks to meld into indistinctive noise.
There are a few moments that stand out from the mass on the album, particularly ‘Punching Nancy Grace’ and its frenzied middle section, and in the dissonant guitar work in ‘No One’s Fucking Waiting’. It’s the chaos of ‘Drifter Aftermath’, however, that really captures the spirit of the album though, encapsulating the dark undertones that run throughout the lyrics.
While the chaos may be hard to follow at first with the majority of tracks coming in at just 2 minutes long, each listen reveals new sonic territories. Throwing in a hefty mix of grindcore, d-beat, thrash and death, Please Explode careers its way between the different genres, ripping through an all out frenzy of instrumentation one second before suddenly pulling back into some solid chugging the next. Although it may not be the most cohesive album, it is everything it promises to be right from the start: short, sharp and unyieldingly brutal.
7.0/10.0
CAITLIN SMITH