All in all, the four tracks on the Russia EP certainly leave a positive impression. The noise is satisfying, and the way the pieces constantly move around makes them really engaging.
Textured and grimy
Despite its brevity, Minimum Sentence’s Russia EP strikes quite fiercely. All of the four tracks presented get up to great levels of chaos, and instead of just laying out noise for the sake of it, they also change things up rather frequently; both the aggression and the variety make these tunes quite engaging, especially in the middle of the EP, as “Failed Coup” and “Modern Vows” never quite cease to impress.
Even if variety wasn’t there, the noise in it of itself is rather satisfying too. It has a digital feel to it, but not in the way where it’s so clean and polished that it almost feels unnatural, it’s still rather textured and grimy in the end, which I very much appreciate.
Starting off with “A Moment of Weakness,” you get a lotta, lotta noise, though not immediately. The track grows larger as it goes, stacking a lot of commotion that’s bordering harsh noise instead of huge washes of feedback, like it was more in its beginning. It’s an overall dry and really rigid sound, but it’s also quite lively, most certainly wouldn’t call this a—pardon me—static piece. It quiets down near the end, leaving these really coarse drones to play, drones that lead into track 2.
“Failed Coup” does opt for this big drone-y approach, and man does it succeed. This is a pretty fantastic piece, because even if it is the most repetitive on the EP, it strikes with such huge force that you can’t help but be impressed as you slowly drown into the gigantic soundscape this track creates. It’s seriously huge, and beyond impressive at how wide and open it comes off as despite the enormous weight of the droning. It is both powerful and atmospheric, a piece that’s so damn fantastic that the whole EP is worth giving a shot, just to be impressed by this piece. Again, even though it may not do anything fancy that will blow your socks off… I mean, why would it need to? These drones are so gigantic that there really is no need for anything more than that, the track is creating one huge gigantic blow of all sorts of black dust flying right in your face, and it is overwhelmingly exciting for that reason.
These drones are so gigantic ::
“Modern Vows” is also noteworthy, mainly due to how frisky the harsh noise is here. Again some pretty thick and mesmerizing drones, though they’re far more plain than they are in track 2; that is so that they can set a solid foundation for the harsh noise to spaz over, and the combination is very exciting indeed, as the noise is constantly disrupting this hypnotizing drone. Only the last track, “Spare Parts,” leaves my mouth a bit dry, mainly due to the fact that it feels less adventurous than the other three; the noise is still good, and with a dirtier and less digital feel than the other tracks, but the piece as a whole isn’t quite as memorable, it feels like it’s not playing much with its key components—those being the noise and the background speeches/spoken word.
All in all, the four tracks on the Russia EP certainly leave a positive impression. The noise is satisfying, and the way the pieces constantly move around makes them really engaging.
It’s harsh and it’s aggressive, and most importantly it feels like it isn’t harsh and aggressive just for the sake of it, as none of the music presented here feels like it’s trying too hard to impress nor is it trying to be harmful. “Failed Coup” is an absolutely fantastic piece, and one that should convince you to pick up this EP, and probably to keep and eye out for more Minimum Sentence releases in the future.
Russia is available on Burial. [Bandcamp]
