Red Creek Records releases Gris Klein (a shade of blue which invokes depression), the third full-length album by French Experimental Punk/Hardcore trio Birds In Row. It’s described as an amorphous beast of an album; always unpredictable but never out of character. Gris Klein is a portrait of a world enduring its most chaotic era in a generation. Although written in lockdown, there is a positive message. The band released its first album You, Me & the Violence in 2012, and followed it up in 2018 with We Already Lost the World. Themes include mental illness, misinformation, immigration and governance, with an over-lying arc of compassion and brutality...

Track List: 'Water Wings'; 'Daltonians'; 'Confettis'; 'Noah'; 'Cathedrals'; 'Nympheas'; 'Grisaille'; 'Trompe L’oeil'; 'Rodin'; 'Winter, Yet'; and 'Sucession'.

I recently reviewed A Foul Form, by Osees, and it’s amazing just how similar in style these two bands sound. The structure of the songs are also close, being very basic, mostly two chord pieces thrashed-out at breakneck speed and reminiscent of a thrown-together garage band. I would say that Birds in a Row have slightly more melody about them than Osees, but format seems to be aimed more towards making a statement than the musical content. As a big fan of Finntroll, for example, I enjoy full-on Metal and Folk which invokes both headbanging and jumping around like a box of frogs. I’m sad to say there are no real hooks on this release; nothing to drag you into the excitement of the experience. But for the vocal inflection, it’s closer to Screamo. Don’t get me wrong, there will definitely be advocates for this, but unfortunately it’s not for me.

5

Ty Power