Beastmilk - Use Your Deluge 7"

I've seen a lot written about Finnish band Beastmilk and I'm the sort of person who likes to start at the beginning, so I've decided to review their 2012 7". While I'm not a huge fan of the term death-rock, as this was released by Svart Records (a label I intend to write about a lot more in the coming weeks), I was drawn to broadening my musical palette.

To point out how hard it is to classify Beastmilk, they have recently played alongside Doomriders and Herder in the UK, prior to their return at Temples Festival in Bristol. They've grown pretty quickly over the last couple of years, with festival appearances and press coverage, especially since the release of recent album Climax.

Tracklist:-

1. Void Mother
2. Children of The Atomb Bomb
3. Forever Animal
4. Red Majesty

As Void Mother, the guitars in the intro are a lot heavier than I thought they would be. The vocals are clean and at times comes across a bit like Pete Steele, with the same catchy vocal melodies. I know comparing Beastmilk to Type O Negative may have been done before, but I think it’s a fair reference point. One thing Beastmilk do represent, is the sheer breadth and variation coming out of Finland’s rock/metal scene at the moment. The music at times is strangely danceable and Children of The Atom Bomb is morbidly fun, with it’s nuclear theme and end-of-the-world atmosphere. 

I’m building a strange affection for Beastmilk as Forever Animal plays. It’s menacing tone and slightly off-kilter instrumentation, which is stripped back at certain points. The punk elements of their sound aren’t obvious on first listen, but to poke through the gloom and make it even harder to fully classify the band. They’ve been accepted by a lot of punk/metal fans and as Red Majesty completes Use Your Deluge, it’s not hard to see why. Through it’s distortion-laden undercurrent, to it’s pop/rock accessibility, Use Your Deluge inhabits it’s own place within the musical spectrum and while not being a hundred percent original, it’s still creative and accomplished. One for the darker times.

You can stream Use Your Deluge via Beastmilk's bandcamp page here - 




Svart Records have repressed Use Your Deluge, to help fight extortionate second-hand copies that have been going up for sale on Ebay and Discogs etc, so you can get the 7" again via Svart here -
http://svartrecords.com/shoppe/en/rock-kraut-folk-pop/beastmilk-use-your-deluge-7.

Beastmilk Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Beastmilk
Svart Records Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/svartrecords