SHREYA BOSE
Bison (Skrat):
I have plenty
of f-words for
Skrat’s new
album. Fierce.
Fiery. Ferocious.
Flamboyant.
Flawless. I could go on, but my
Editor frowns at my excessive use
of allegory. The point, however, is
that Skrat have outdone themselves.
I never imagined that they would
disappoint, but Bison does much
justice to the oft-used adjective “epic”.
I’m not sure what to exalt first – the
crisp hooks and the addictive riffs, the
spitting snarky words or the unending
kicks of rhythmic adrenaline. The
tracks move from ominous to facile to
dystopian to frenzied. The songs are
darker than their previous musical
avatars, and sketch out a saga of
devastation with biting satire.
The Queen is in slumber. Chaos has
arisen, and that means General Bison
shows up to stir up some trouble. His
intent? Wallop the population of “Skrat-
verse” into sanity with some fire and
brimstone. He’s the hero humanity needs
and hopefully not one that it deserves. Yet.
What never ceases to amaze me about this
band is the consistent levels of energy
they insist on maintaining in every
track. Bison has no ballads; its all high-
octane, exquisitely crafted hack-and-slash
sentimentality. The band hijacks your
attention and treats it like its personal
phonetic stomping ground. I couldn’t pick
a favourite, but “Raptor”, “Fireworks”,
“Wake Up”, “Siren” and “Bison” keep
coming up in the playlist.
As Written in the Stars (Easy
Wanderlings):
Charming. A simple
word, applicable to all
kinds of things that may
please the eyes or the
spirit. You use it to talk
about the guy who picks up the hat you
dropped, the old woman who leaves some
homemade pudding for your dessert, the
sudden whiff of some childhood fragrance
in the winter air, lazy spring afternoons,
and this album.
NDIE
22
The
Score Magazine
highonscore.com
REVIE