When it rains it pours (and in Liverpool over the last couple 24 hours, it’s literally done just that).
For those who read about perceived struggles of underground music in the U.K. just yesterday, while nothing’s changed in 24 hours and – short of a gold rush – isn’t likely to, on this virtual tour down in the Southwest, the focus shifts from post-hardcore trio Leaves to a trip across the M4 to Cardiff where Guardband awaits.
The duo, consisting of Simon Jenkins (vocals/guitar) and Max Vonbeek (drums/samples), have been embedded in a scene that has been a mainstay over last couple of decades, sharing the stage with the likes of Rocket Recording alumni Gnod and latest signings Obey Cobra, Olanza and many others in the U.K.’s doom-laden post-rock broadchurch.
And it’s a place Guardband remain with Long-Term Vexation and Grief – the duo’s follow-up to their 2022 debut album, Akrotiri Station.
Like fellow two-piece noise agitators Modern Technology, Guardband make a hellish racket. However, unlike the former, this band thrive in low end carnage. Both in tonality and overall songwriting, Guardband take it to another level on Long-Term Vexation and Grief, penning the kind of songs that take them beyond the standard meat and two veg doom that has stifled some scenes across the country.
Guardband - Long-Term Vexation and GriefNot that there was any doubt based on the strength of Akrotiri Station, however from the first notes of Feeding, it’s apparent that this is a band on a ceaseless march. With is a crunching groan that sends tremors through the marshlands, this is low slung guitars and crushing tonality at full steam ahead.
So too with Long-Term Vexation and Grief’s highlight track, Catch. If comparing the songs from Akrotiri Station, Catch is one you would never have envisaged Guardband writing. A lurching grandeur inspired by West country blues that finds beauty in the fissures of despair. If anything, Guardband take the idea of YOB’s latest works and explore even deeper through the emotional whirlpool.
Russian Milk is another that sees Jenkins and Vonbeek tapping into new wellsprings, this time taking the roaring psych timbre of Kylesa and concocting it with the sort of atmospheres of later-era Neurosis. And speaking of concoctions, Whippet is an informed idea of the preceding three tracks where Guardband essentially take us on a tour through years of post-metal.
Which leads us to Night Rates. With samples enveloped in nihilism, it’s another sinister portal Guardband barrel through at speed. It proves that Jenkins and Vonbeek like to mix things up, adopting the notion of the inability to survive on riffs alone.
It’s moments like this on Long-Term Vexation and Grief where Guardband show a vibrant new side, putting their best foot forward with songs that are as good as anything you’re likely to hear from the doom and post-rock world this year.
Long-Term Vexation and Grief is out now. Purchase from Bandcamp.
