Album Review: Grizzle - Fly You Fat Bastard
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
New York duo, Grizzle, give another set of wings to this previously released album. My research has drawn something of a blank as to the provenience of the original recording and release, so history will have to go out of the window on this one and I’ll just let the music do the talking.
There are huge shoes to fill when aligning yourself with the New York Hardcore scene and the inevitable comparisons are an occupational hazard. Grizzle’s take on the genre is more Life of Agony than Sick of It All, though that isn’t to say Fly You Fat Bastard bleeds in any way like Caputo, et al, rather the pair opt for a more subtle approach in the main.
From the outset the record will take you back to those heady days of the 1990s, a time when the world was a very different place and the heavy music scene found itself in a decade-long battle for its very soul.
Early on, Fly You Fat Bastard stays in the realm of the mid-paced. Weeping and Fusegum amble along with little regard for fast tempo; instead, they delivery confident guitar lines and raw, spat vocals.
Sandwiched between these songs is Fascist, a schizophrenic, dissonant piece filled with uncomfortable vocals which, at times, are little more than a whisper. Positioning this as the second song in suggests Grizzle might not be the good-time band the album title intimates.
There are certainly times, especially early in the record that Grizzle use Fly You Fat Bastard as a vehicle for their collected ire and rage. Guitar/ vocalist Clint Listing moves between raw vitriol and polemic railings as drummer and backing vocalist, Jason Mills, supports the edifice with simple but hugely effective percussion.
That said, those listeners who want some big grooves and massive hooks will not be disappointed. Love American Style, Manifesto of Death and Mystic Man will lodge in your brain and won’t shift for days.
Grizzle like to play with the expectations of the Hardcore crowd as, among the gang-vocals and anger, they manage to mix a little Mordred-style funk into Lost Soul City; a smattering of System of a Down’s staccato vocals and bounce into La-La Song; and punk riff with a breakdown into Alligator Trainer.
The second half of Fly You Fat Bastards feels heavier than the first, rhythms are punchier and guitar riffs thicker. Both Long Distance Discount and Learn Ya In The Shed are two of the heaviest tracks on offer here, but neither skimp on the hook-laden groove.
On the whole Grizzle might not have delivered the most ferociously heavy Hardcore album of the year, but they have introduced us (again) to their interpretation of the genre, for which I thank them.
