ViperLove - Colour

ViperLove

Colour
self-released; 2015

3.9 out of 5

By J Simpson

This ain't no disco punk; no post-hardcore; no arty postmodern metal deconstruction, seeking academic validation.Colour by Australia's ViperLove is a straight up blast of tensile, metallic, southern rock-infused punk fury, straight from the cinderblock practice space and radioactive piranha feeding frenzy of the circle pit.

Colour is quick and immediate as a fat rail of white lightning, shooting straight into your brain. The action begins at a breakneck pace with the primal howl of "The Thirsty Itch" and never lets go, shaking you by the throat until you're seeing gray stars. ViperLove sets out to make a short, interesting EP that holds the listener's interest, without skipping a track, desperately wanting the next hit, the next fix. I'd say they succeeded admirably.

While I've enjoyed many of the mutations and permutations of metal, since the turn of the century, it's always struck me as slightly dismissive, almost offensive, that heavy metal axe slingers needed to bow to the institution, to be taken seriously, like Metallica playing their hits with an orchestra (not that there's anything wrong with that). While many of the mutations have yielded interesting results, too many have succumbed to pop conventions, becoming metalcore or post-hardcore in the process. I'm not going to lie, I hate metalcore to the depths of my soul - with its emo singalongs and bro-love, and while I find aspects of post-hardcore interesting - the might, the ferocious low-end - I've always found the tendency towards metal breakdowns to be rather predictable, the punk/metal equivalent of the dubstep wobble.

ViperLove keeps it pure. They've incorporated ASPECTS of nearly every extreme musical movement of the last 30 years, but they still shoot straight from the hip, keeping it short, quick, adrenalized. In short, ViperLove plays punk rock with the intensity of people who love grind, but don't succumb to the cookie cutter growls.

Colour bears a sonic similarity to the earliest Dillinger Escape Plan records, which is a huge compliment, as they are the best of the best at delivering fast, intricate, nearly spastic metallic flagellations, as well as the twitchy pathos of The Blood Brothers. But ViperLove has less art school pretensions about them. Their songs are frenetic, feroicious, yet still delivered with a thrash/hair metal catchiness, while not becoming screeching. ViperLove offer the best of all worlds.

Australia seems to be one of the last bastions of true rock n’ roll, just going to show that sometimes we have to travel to the ends of the Earth to find pure, undiluted music and movements. This short EP has renewed my enthusiasm for riffs, blastbeats, anger and adrenaline, so I say ViperLove offers a valuable public service - being excellent, without being pretentious! 

Become A Fan

youtube

Tweet