Suffocate For Fuck Sake - Blazing fires and helicopters on the front page of the newspaper. There's a war going on and I'm marching in heavy boots

 

 Suffocate For Fuck Sake hail from Sweden and describe themselves as Sigur Ros, Breach, Cult of Luna, Mono, and Mogwai (playing a the same time).  Other than that they are a pretty darn mysterious band.  There is absolutely no information on the members, or are there any pictures of the band.  I can't find any touring information and their Myspace is pretty bare.  What else would you expect from a band from Sweden called Suffocate For Fuck Sake?

SFFS definitely live up to their name during portions of their album, but it isn't all rage and fury.  They sprinkle a heavy sludge sound over vast expanses of beautifully dark instrumentals and samples of interviews in Swedish.  The focus of the interviews are about a young woman looking back at her time spent in a mental institute.  The quotes come from her, her friend, her mother, and her doctor at the time and they serve as a guide as the album meanders through the girl's terrifying story. 

It is a concept album so I would suggest taking the time and listening to it all at once.  I know from personal experience if you get through that first song you will be hooked.  This will be a challenging listen due to the long song durations and the experimental use of dialogue in a language you most likely won't be able to understand, but you will be rewarded with glimmering atmospheric guitar work, cripplingly sad piano, and violent vocals.

(I'll post the translations for the samples as soon as I find them)

Download

-Jim

pg.99 - Document #8

 

“We were just a group of friends who all wanted to play music and try to make our lives more incredible”.

pg.99 - Document #8

-Jim

Pianos Become The Teeth - Old Pride

Coming straight from the awesomely pretentious band name department I bring you Pianos Become The Teeth.  This screamo (or skramz if you are an asshole) band from Baltimore draws influences from both post-rock and post-hardcore which leaves the listener with something in the same vane as Envy, City of Caterpillar, or Suffocate For Fuck Sake. (gotta love the names).  

Unfortunately for Pianos they don't quite live up to the behemoths of the genre I mentioned.  Not yet anyway.  Some of the post-rock buildups are amazing (see "Pensive"),  but at other times the meander and end up falling back on mediocre post-hardcore riffs leaving the listener waiting for that climax that never comes (see "Young Fire").  The lyrics live up to the stereotype of the genre and are mostly underwhelming for the entirety of the album, minus the absolute tear jerker, "Cripples Can't Shiver", an incredibly emotional song about a loved one dying of a degenerative disease.

Although these guys aren't perfect, this album is still one of my favorites of last year.  So check out the album, then buy some merch or book them for your next basement show.  They'll be in Milwaukee June 17, where they will be playing however remains to be seen.  So if you live in the area keep that in mind, as it appears these guys will literally play wherever.  They seem to be extremely humble and appreciative guys and that's pretty fucking cool.

 

Download 

Buy/Book