TRACK PREMIERE: Bather - Birds

We townsfolk were getting lonely moshing by ourselves in the village cesspool, so please, dear readers, consider this an open invitation to our filth-ridden festivities. That’s right: we’re hitting you with another nasty Appalachian Noise Records premiere, right out of the goddamn gate.  

Provided you weren’t utterly concussed by forays into Bather’s bandcamp, you may recall that last week we reviewed the Ohio quintet’s forthcoming debut--an academically tinged ‘core monstrosity, coated with the angsty chug-laden patina of a bygone era. Today, we are pleased to premiere Birds from said album. As a single, it demonstrates very well the entire Bather package, and after several particularly pugilistic bouts with the repeat button, I can safely consider it to be one of my favorite tracks herein.

As I wrote previously, Birds serves a prime example of Bather’s dynamism, which remains...well, present, considering the primordial genre sludge from which this outfit crawls. Beginning with a seemingly chuggy sludgefest, Birds quickly takes that rugged riffage and transitions into an oddly melodic affair. Higher leads ride high above the marshy underfooting, before falling back into the mire for a chorus bursting with all the unwashed spite the 90’s ‘core scene might muster. And then back again. Drums are less percussed than bludgeoned into broken-toothed submission, and, come the back half, viltrolic vocals are expelled through massive gaps in the chugs. To quote myself--as us narcissistic ink-splattered scribes are wont to do--Birds stands as a high-water mark where “the vocals are particularly repugnant (and this, of course, in the best sense of the word).” For a four minute track, there’s a helluva lot going on to maintain interest, and that alone places Bather in a notably distinct echelon. The point deserves to be hammered home: Bather takes the mangled tools offered by 90’s ‘core and uses them to surprisingly inventive effect. Their influences never wrote tracks that even begin to approach this level of sophistication.

Anyways. You can read about it all day, but descriptions are for the birds. Listen here:  

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​Bather’s self-titled debut will be released April 12th, 2019 from Appalachian Noise Records. While we're on the topic, don't miss out on that sweet album bundle. 

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