When you search for a band’s biography only to be chastened with the words “stop reading, this is about music” it makes the act of writing a review that much harder. After all, a review’s purpose is an attempt to make sense of an artist’s music in words, a noble if often futile endeavour, and The Prestige singlehandedly cut through all of the bullshit, hyperbole and self-congratulatory gland handing that comes part and parcel with biographies an press releases with that one curt sentence. Oh, and they also tell you that they don’t play deathcore. Which is a relief.
So, with the feeling that a wordy review is the last thing that the band will actually want, I’ll try to keep this brief.
The Prestige rule.
Maybe that’s too brief. Sorry folks, I must expand.
The prestige play a nitro-fuelled brand of alternative-edged hardcore punk. Their musical abilities are up there with the likes of Dillinger Escape Plan and Botch and their music has similarly convoluted time signatures and guitar riffs, seemingly dedicated to making you feel like your skull is imploding under the sheer weight. Opening track ‘the truth’ explodes out of the speakers with a furious sense of self-importance, the vocals screamed out at lung-bursting volume, the riffs off-kilter and reminiscent of Botch’s relentless assault, whilst the bass lurks ominously in the background providing much needed gravitas to the aural assault being conducted upon your person. Next up is the excellently titled ‘burn down Vegas’ which is faster, harder, better even, than its predecessor in almost every way. The fury that seeps out of every raging note conducts itself to the listener and before you realise it you’re sitting bolt upright, muscles straining as a result of the huge adrenalin surge pumping around your veins. ‘Ballroom’, whilst still heavier than the average house falling upon you, feels more straight forward in its brutality, the riffs giving way to the brutally distorted bass whilst the ever-present vocals spit and scream almost directly into your unprotected face. ‘Cranefly’, with its tapped-out count in, feels as raw as if you were sitting in rehearsals with the band and whilst the music remains as proficiently delivered as ever the production is as beautifully simple, as heavy and imposing, as you could possibly wish for, even when the song suddenly trips off into some obscure melodic hinterland that is as surprising as it is refreshing.
Imposing, in fact, is possibly the best way to describe The Prestige. They insist upon your undivided attention, the corrosive riffs tearing holes into your psyche, the percussion a blurry assault more sensed than seen and the vocals a terrifying howl of primal rage. However, The Prestige understand the value of dynamic. Too much rage and the assault’s fury is dimmed, and so ‘Pluie’ transpires to be a rippling, post-rock exercise in simple beauty that sounds like Neurosis side-project Harvestman and which offers listeners some much needed respite from the ferocious storm that howls around it. The result of roaming in such mellow pastures is that ‘the never ending end’ appears out of left field like an axe wielding maniac at a picnic, leaving blood soaking into the parched earth and the corpses piled high with frozen looks of horror etched onto their faces. ‘Forward’ hauls itself out of howling feedback and then ‘Backward’ slams it straight back in, the atonal riff guaranteed to leave you gasping for air before it slips away leaving a hulking bass riff and gentle guitars leading us back into psychedelic post-rock territory. ‘A thousand trees in my closet’ is the briefest of exercises in Sonic Youth esque instrumental noise rock and then closer ‘hooks and lips’ ends the album with a stunning roam through introspective pastures. Like everything else on this album it is brilliantly unexpected, perfectly done and remarkably coherent despite the variety of genres on display.
Impossible to categorise, unable to compromise and utterly original The Prestige are a band who are utterly unwilling to play the rock ‘n’ roll game precisely because their hearts are already taken by the power of rock ‘n’ roll itself. There is no superficial posturing or press-badgering artifice, just a band making amazing music and allowing it to speak for itself. You can find the album (in a variety of formats) on Bandcamp and as ever we invite you to see for yourself whether we have got the review right or not. The Prestige are too good a band to miss out on and if you like your heavy music tempered by an intelligence and desire to push boundaries then this band will most certainly be for you.
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