White Slice – Antarctica

We get a shitload of promo mails at the SWNK HQ every day. I rarely check them out myself (just passing on the info to our reviewers), but for some reason I did check out White Slice. Maybe because it’s a band with people that played in Gewapend Beton & Bratpack (among others), but even more likely because the label called it ‘straight forward garage grunge‘ though. I’m a sucker for grunge. No matter how empty that label is, it’s usually enough for me to check it out. And quickly turn it off. But this time I kept listening. And I’m glad I did, because this is pretty damn good.

Let’s see. I can’t say a thing about the lyrics, because my review copy (that’s a simple ZIP file these days kids) didn’t include any. The same goes for the artwork, aside from the front cover which doesn’t do much for me. I can be short about the production too, it sounds solid, as you can hear for yourself below. Ok, with those boxes ticked, let’s talk about the songs itself.

The music might be ‘straight forward’, but there’s enough going on to keep it interesting. The songs are quite diverse. Some parts reminded me a bit of Restless Youth (“Addicted For A Day”), never a bad thing, I miss that band. Other parts reminded me more of bands like Peter Pan Speedrock (“Context Context”). And when Hugo (who you might know from Malkovich or Twee Maten) goes all out on vocals the hardcore background shines through. Quite the combination. It totally works for me though.

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