The Rock Blogger

Fight Amp . Hungry for Nothing . 2008 3.5 stars .

New Jersey’s Fight Amp play an interesting mix of post-hardcore, noise rock and sludge metal, with aggressive and intricate songs that thrash by with burning intensity. Tight stoner rock grooves, chugging rhythms, dense bass lines and shouting vocals blaze their way across these 8 tracks, maintaining a throttling energy in the same tradition as post-hardcore heroes Converge and Today is the Day. Unlike their contemporaries however, Fight Amp leaves the more abstract frills behind and instead opt for a more ragged display of visceral power - this is strictly a back-against-the-wall kind of ride.

The band’s performance, while winding through suffocating guitar work and pummeling drums, is incredibly focused and to the point. The sludgy dynamics serves to enhance the dense sound created here, rather than taking it into any post-rock tangents - a move genre purists should appreciate. The punchy drum rolls, even in the slower sections, keep a propulsive momentum that continues throughout the whole disc. The caustic vocals are choked full of searing negativity and complement the dirty aesthetic that permeates across the crawling mayhem of tracks like "Bound and Hagged" and "Get High and Fuck". As the band alternates between speedy punk numbers and sluggish bursts of noise, the mood remains seething and crazed, making this a fine display of drug-addled catharsis.

Hungry for Nothing , being as effective as it is, evokes feelings of madness and frustration, creating an experience that is genuine and sometimes draining. While I personally prefer the more experimentalist touches found on albums like Converge’s Jane Doe , there is much to like in Fight Amp, even if their sneering attitude makes me want to kill someone. Check it.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 19th, 2008 at 12:04 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.