COTM 020 Emisseries Of Syn "The Core Assumptions of Human Insecurity" LP
£13.12
COTM 020 Emisseries Of Syn "The Core Assumptions of Human Insecurity" LP
£13.12
Awesome grind n'roll from North Wales, Up the punx!
Louder than War said:
Emissaries Of Syn hail from Conwy and have cleverly worded messages about environmental and human rights issues to transmit. Words like these matter so what you get is a mash up of power violence and grindcore with vocals you can understand. Nathan Brown agrees with most of what they have to say, declaring some songs as Black Mirror The Musical.
I’ve seen the name Emissaries Of Syn around playing a few choice gigs and pictures of this record appearing on the turntables of people in the know. Then the mighty Neil Crud, who hosts a regular show on LTW Radio as well as writing for us, got in touch to see if I could review this long player. His label Link2Wales is one of 7 involved in releasing this slab of vinyl in various colours. Of course I said yes. He specifically drew my attention to the clever lyrics.
There is a gloom hanging over the music and lyrics of Emissaries Of Syn. Musically you have entered punk territory so turn back now if you’re afeard. Pounding drums – that occasionally reach the speed of power violence – battle with a blur of grindy bass and a downtuned guitar that is raw to the point of breaking up to create a fast riff platform from which vocals stage dive their message. This is heavy stuff, but the vocals are deliberately clear rather than growled or screamed which makes a change for music from the grindcore and power violence neck of the woods. In this respect they are in the same ballpark as Dropdead’s recent output. As the album progresses the vocals seem to get more raw and angrier. 20 years ago this would have been released on Flat Earth Records.
Lyrically, Emissaries Of Syn are on point. They identify the way the influence of digital technology – particularly social media – over our lives has not been a good thing. Hacked Humanity takes down the way our lives are increasingly controlled by algorithms. And who controls these machines? The “biotechnological elite” and “a privileged savvy few”. I agree wholeheartedly but I’m no luddite. Digital tech could create a utopia, but within the paradigm of capitalism it is most likely to create a dystopia.
The title of Salem.dot.com cleverly brings together the digital pile-on – “The Digital Lynching” as they put it – with that most famous of witch hunts. And of course when it turns out you had made an honest mistake, your name never really gets cleared: “Another victim hexed. Retraction in the small print but we’re on to the next.” In the notes to the song they appeal for a little restraint and humanity “Yes, call out wrongs when needed, but your virtue signalling is plain to see too. Don’t cast the first stone.” Later in the album they sing about the phenomenon of Token Grief, complete with a Windsor Davies sample. You know, when people rush to join the very public outpouring of devastation when someone famous dies. These particular songs are like Black Mirror The Musical.
In the notes to Through A Broken Lens, it’s like they read my mind when my view at a recent gig was obscured by tens of bloody smartphone screens (I hope several of those expensive devices ceased to work shortly afterwards, as they were soaked with fake blood. Ha Ha!) “Take a photo, make a souvenir, but don’t forget to actually enjoy the moment for what it is instead of in the context of its digital presentation. Get a grip on the here and now, not filtered through a phone screen”. EOS’s lyrics are pretty clever, if you are a cultured beast like myself, littered as they are with double meanings and word play. “The camera obscures and denies, the camera obscures and denies” has layered meaning if you know what a camera obscura is. Of course, all this technology can keep us distracted the from shit that is going on in full view. Bread and circuses anyone?
Ersatzification (look up ersatz online if you don’t know what it means) is a tirade against consumerism that reaches almost death metal tones. Messines 3.09am outlines the environmentally destructive practice of fracking. The band environmental awareness pops up again on Jobs@Auschwitz. it’s not an anti-fascist song. Rather the question “There were jobs at Auschwitz, would you have taken one?” compares working at a nuclear power plant with working at a Nazi death camp. This puts the long term damage that nuclear power leaves as a legacy for the future into stark terms. As they point out, Wales doesn’t need poisonous energy sources – it is full of renewable sources. And then they later return to the theme with Not-so-superseded about built in obsolescence and waste all just to make a few people richer.
When they repeat “Death rains from the skies” and “Red cross in iron sights, blind to human rights” on Hypocriticial Hit (sic) EOS are talking about air strikes on hospitals. Again, the notes to support this song are pithy and point to a solution: Support Medecins Sans Frontieres. An extended downstroke-heavy outro is almost Sabbath-esque until what is presumably a cello blends into the mix, continuing on its own for over a minute. It gives you time to reflect, while provoking your imagination with its sorrowful voice.
Listen to Hypocritical Hit (sic) by Emissaries of Syn
By the time you reach the end of the record EOS have also taken down cover bands (“butchers and fakers”), USA gun laws, violence on the streets and acknowledged the fragility of mental health.
I share these emissaries’ cynicism and recognise what they see. The planet is being ripped apart and the rich are getting richer on the back of it. Not everybody is happy nowadays. I suppose one of the ways that the activist attitude of punk bands like EOS differs from other noisy genres that may sound fairly similar and revel in human misery is that they don’t just deliver bad news. They do point out ways we as individuals can make a change. If enough of us do, it may start to tip the balance.
Album and download available from bandcamp.
Labels involved in the release: 7 Degrees, Link2Wales, Let the Bastards Grind, Rejected Abused, Mosh Team, Circus of the Macabre, and Pyrrhic Defeat
