HIGH TENSION - Bully

July 29, 2015, 8 years ago

(New Damage)

David Perri

Rating: 8.0

review heavy metal high tension

HIGH TENSION - Bully

Melbourne’s High Tension has created a big, bloody mess here with Bully, its second record, but in the process it’s also forged a bold, genuine statement of purpose, this album screaming for vengeance in so many mangled ways. Abrasively combining elements of noise rock (the new KEN mode comes to mind more than once, and so do early sub-pop bands), NOLA sludge, Norma Jean’s mazes and alleyways, and even scattered shards of early ‘80s Manchester post-punk, Bully is a nomadic effort that comes from many disparate places, all of them un-pretty. 

In theory, then, this shouldn’t work - it should be a confused collision of too many different favorite LPs. But High Tension’s willingness to, literally, roll with it achieves inspired outcomes, these songs caustic and menacing, the band clearly not intimidated by the results it’s channeling. Which might be the key to Bully’s success: High Tension is summoning, without inhibition, some of life’s ugliest circumstances, and the rest of us are being hit directly, our guards entirely shattered, unexpectedly. A due diligence check of the back catalogue reveals that High Tension debut Death Beat is pretty effective as well, with that album expressing Bully’s rage in more ordered, symmetrical ways.



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