Album Review: Besta - John Carpenter Redux
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
I loves me some grindcore, and I loves me a John Carpenter movie; so when Portuguese noise merchants, Besta, issued their 2014 album in tribute to the auteur film maker, it seemed a fitting blend of style and substance.
Releasing eleven years on from the original pressing, this Redux finds itself shorn of two tracks, As Aventuras de Jack Burton nas Garras do Mandarim and A Coisa have been overlooked and the existing tracks given a slightly different running order.
Previously sitting in the middle of the record, O Regresso do Mal is now moved up to the front and is John Carpenter’s outlier in that it is doomy tune, full of swampy slithering guitars and underscored by a synth that appears to be reciting non-descript observations of Mr Carpenter’s musical scores. At four minutes in length it takes up almost a quarter of the record’s run-time but sets the scene for the barrage to come.
Closing track, O Principe das Trevas, hits with a two-minutes duration, seeing the record out with dirty bass work and some modern aesthetics. Getting from one to the other are nine blasting tunes, most lasting around a minute and chock full of whiplash riffs, blitzkrieg drumming and barked vocals.
A Cidade dos Malditos add haunting melodies to its breakdown; A Biblia de Satanás is edgy and grooving, while Estrela Negra rages in the style of Napalm Death, riffs flailing and be damned at the consequences.
There’s little to connect the content of the Carpenter movies with Besta’s songs, though O Carro Assassino – translates as Killer Car – purrs along like Christine herself, rhythms drive like a well-tuned engine and there’s a heaviness to this one that eschews the need for a breakdown. O Nevoeiro – The Fog – roles in like the titular mist and causes the same amount of damage as Blake and his crew did to Antonio Bay.
Nova Iorque 1997 and Fuga de Los Angeles pay homage to Snake Pliskin, with the former being barely twenty seconds in length and the latter’s grinding having an edgy LA Strip vibe going on, though you’d be hard-pressed to dance for dollars to this one.
Eles Vivem – or They Live – ends with some old school noodling, though that comes after the rampaging frenzy of Besta doing their (the) thing.
John Carpenter (Redux) is the band going back and revisiting one of their most accomplished albums, re-recording it with a 2025 sensibility and with the personnel that make up Besta at this moment. It’s a great deal of fun and a heck of a stomping listen and, at sixteen and a half minutes, it has loads of immediate re-listenability.
