First off, I’d like to congratulate Australia’s Brazen Bull (an ancient torture device) for the incredibly professional and well done promotional package they sent me; a folder complete with a professional, full digipack CD EP, glossy photo, a CDR with images, press sheet, logo as well as a very nice letter asking to be reviewed. In an age where major labels are simply emailing links to digital downloads for review, it was refreshing to see this sort of package arrive from an unsigned band. Nice work lads-stuff like that will get you reviewed and noticed in a hurry.

Now onto the music: Brazen Bull is BATSHIT fucking insane.

Imagine the jazz fueled grinding chaos and technical assault of Dillinger, Psyopus and Lye By Mistake mixed with Whisper Supremacy era Cryptopsy, Obscura era Gorguts, all on a vast dose of Steroids and a dash of deathcore and you get this 13 minute, Chuck Norris assault on your nuts.

While I generally look down on the whole modern spazzy, grindcore/deathcore, tech metal thing, Brazen Bull are so damn ferocious and technically adept , it virtually commands your attention and beats you into submission, almost to point where it can be grating, especially the continuously screamed vocals. I literally have not heard anything this chaotic and frenetic in years, and while that may be the band’s downfall, the fact remains-these guys have some serious chops and skill.

With all 6 tracks clocking in between 1 and 3 minutes, the EP literally blows by in a blur of blasts and ridiculously complex squeals and bass slapped polyrhythms with the odd (and short) jazz) acoustic injections. I’m not even going to breakdown the likes of “Gaze”, “Right Angle Triangle”, “Freight Train Burial” or “Iota”, ‘cos to be frank, about 5 listens in, my head literally hurt. The vocals will definitely turn some folks off, but essentially this whole EP has a “Check it out just to see how fucking nuts it really is” feel to it anyway.

This may be too much for some folks, but either way, I’m intrigued to see what a full length album might sound like and if a label is willing to take a chance on the technicall brilliance but over the top extremity that Brazen Bull purvey.

[Visit the band's website]

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