Irk - Bread And Honey

'Bread And Honey'
Irk
2014

(Band Submission)

Review by Brayden Bagnall

Genre/s: Math Rock, Noise Rock, Mathcore
For Fans Of: Zu, Meshuggah, Zeus, These Arms Are Snakes, Primitive Weapons

It takes a fair bit of imagination, creativity and raw talent to stretch a bass-only, three piece as far as Irk have on Bread And Honey, and lo and behold their collective effort has paid off big time.
Sporting an absolutely massive bass sound (think all of Meshuggah's pickers/slappers rolled into one) and a range of influences drawn mostly from the hardcore and noise rock side of things, Irk's debut is as unique as it crushing.
Across three tracks, Bread And Honey revels in groove and tightly packed, concise rhythms that hop and skip in odd time signatures and mind boggling tempo changes. Despite this, Irk don't get bogged down in the sort of mathematical wankery you'd expect from  a bearded tech-death type and instead focus on the energetic appeal and focused aggression of hardcore. This is in turn met with forced out, emotive vocals that twist and turn with the ups and downs of the band's instrumentation.
The Leeds band have proved themselves most adapt at making noisy yet calculated music, despite only have three songs on this release. I'm definitely keen to see what these guys bring to the table on their next release, be it an EP or a full length.

TRACKLISTING:
1. Care Taker
2. Mammilian Love Merch
3. You're Welcome

Bandcamp