ALBUM REVIEW: Friendship - "Hatred"

By: Charlie Butler

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 03/11/2017

Label: Southern Lord Records |

Daymare Recordings | Sentient Ruin

Laboratories

Over the course of twenty five crushing minutes, the band show they have honed their potent blend of crust, powerviolence, grind and sludge to deadly perfection. “Hatred” feels like burying your face in a bowl of razorblades while being kicked in the stomach.

“Hatred” CD//CS//DD//LP track listing:

1). Rejected

2). Regiside

3). Corrupt

4). Tortures

5). Compton

6). Grief

7). Life Sentence

8). Blue Berry

9). Execution

10). Dirtbags

11). El Chapo

12). Treason

The Review:

The dust has barely settled from my recent exposure to Friendship’sfacemelting EP compilation. The Tokyo wrecking crew have wasted no time in releasing their debut LP “Hatred”, a relentless assault on the senses that cements their position as the current masters of all things short, fast and horrible.

Over the course of twenty five crushing minutes, the band show they have honed their potent blend of crust, powerviolence, grind and sludge to deadly perfection. There is a new found clarity and gut-churning heaviness to their bludgeoning onslaught. This has resulted in a marginally less raw and chaotic experience than before but still feels like burying your face in a bowl of razorblades while being kicked in the stomach.

“Rejected” and “Regicide” open the record in furious fashion like a warp-speed Iron Lung. Both tracks feature carefully deployed bursts of squealing feedback like a lead instrument, particularly powerful during the cacophonous climax of the latter. “Life Sentence” and “Blue Berry” find Friendshipmixing in punishing, chug-heavy sludge riffs in amongst the high octane punk mayhem that bring an intoxicating air of hardcore brutality. The bands interest in the heavier and slower side of life is most evident in the monstrous “Corrupt”, a low tempo bruiser that bristles with Eyehategod/Noothgrush sludge attitude.

A re-recorded version of “Compton” from the band’s debut EP makes an appearance at the LPs mid-point. It is significantly burlier than its predecessor and encapsulates all that makes Friendship great in two minutes. Fret-mangling noise rock riffs lead to passages of exhilarating knuckle-dragging simplicity, a perfect balance of innovation and primal no-frills punk rock.

With “Hatred”, Friendshiphave delivered in style on the immense promise of their early work.

“Hatred”is available here

Band info: bandcamp

ALBUM REVIEW: Friendship - "I&II"

By: Charlie Butler

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 10/02/2017

Label: Sentient Ruin Laboratories

“I & II” is a devastating slab of high octane noise-riddled evil that makes most heavy bands sound weak and feeble in comparison.  The band’s brief outbursts of messy, feedback riddled punk mayhem are as exhilarating as they are terrifying.

“I & II”CS//DD//LP track listing:

1). Jerusalem

2). T.R.Ø.Y

3). Bill Evans

4). €ompton

5). Represent

6). Bottomless Pit

7). Abuse

8). SB

9). Hype

10). Slaughterhouse

11). Law

12). El Chapo

The Review:

Japan’s Friendship have delivered the nastiest listening experience of 2017 in the form of their “I & II”LP. This release brings together their first two self-released EPs to form one concentrated blast of aural terror. Incendiary opener “Jerusalem” packs more carnage into thirty three seconds than most bands manage in a whole album. It’s a punishing onslaught of frantic, ugly grindcore that sets the tone for horror to come.

Friendship take the sludge-coated powerviolence of Iron Lung and Weekend Nachosand ramp up the intensity and aggression way into the red and beyond. The band’s brief outbursts of messy, feedback riddled punk mayhem are as exhilarating as they are terrifying but they are at their most effective when they explore the extremes of the tempo spectrum within the space of a single track.

“T.R.Ø.Y”begins at a snail’s pace as the bass and drums carve out a torturous minimal riff that creates an air of bleak foreboding. This makes the eruption of furious crust that follows all the more potent. There are hints of off-kilter noise rock weirdness in amongst the wreckage too, best exemplified by the insane opening riff to “€ompton”. Somehow Friendship manage to take this construction of pummelling chords, bizarre string bends and ringing discord and make it the basis of a straight ahead grind assault. As the track progresses it slows and degenerates into a pit of barely-mobile doom torment reminiscent of Primitive Manat their most oppressive.

“I & II”is a devastating slab of high octane noise-riddled evil that makes most heavy bands sound weak and feeble in comparison.  If these two EP’s are a hint of Friendship’s fearsome power I suggest taking cover now in preparation for a full-length offering.      

“I & II”is available here