Friday, September 22, 2017

Happivaje - S/T

My friend introduced me to Happivaje, saying they are a great piece of raw Crust. I remember only that I really liked their dirty EP back in the day. And then I just simply forgot about these Finnish punk bastards. Until now, when I found this tape inside my mail box. As this band is pretty unknown I feel that I should shed light on them. Happivaje consists of 4 units, they are based in Joensuu, and yes these punks are all native Finns. This 9 song, self-titled record is their debut (and it is a very good one). All this noise is wrapped in a classic (I guess I can say that) grindcore cover. This collage looks pretty dreadful; all these elements (theme of tracking, blind children, “big brother is watching you”) create nice dark atmosphere. This tape starts with a very classic intro (as for crust punk of course), few short riffs, good punk solo and then an endless wall of raw energy. I do enjoy the crunchy downtuned bass and distorted rhythm guitar. Both of these instruments sound very filthy on this recording and it suits the Crust Punk atmosphere well. Drums sound a little bit sloppy but I really love that (that brings more points to the whole sound). The vocalist did a great job too, he is spitting out lyrics with such anger and this also effects the whole atmosphere. Almost all the songs consist of straight-up speed attacks, sometimes it seems that I hear pure grind (like in an Aivopesty song). Well now I really don't know what more I can add... Just try to listen to this EP on your own folks, I`m pretty sure that you will like it. Rating: 7.5/10 Happivaje fb Happivaje bc