Rising from the ashes of trio Hy-Test, BRUCE! (capital letters compulsory) is a band from the once-industrial musical nursery of Wollongong, south of Sydney, that plays skull-crushing guitar rock with occasionally complex arrangements. This EP showcases four of their simpler tunes delivered to mostly damaging effect.
The EP format makes it tempting to cover as many bases as possible and BRUCE! succumb, ranging from tunefully abrasive punk (“Shapes And Numbers”) to grunge-core (“Sludge”) and metal-tinged straight-up rockers (“Captain” and “Shit Sells”). Twin guitars dominate and vocals are shared by Bruce Armstrong and Bruce Curley. The writing is similarly democratic with each of the four members contributing a song.
“Shapes And Numbers” is the pick of this crop and there’s some tasty guitar tone among the murk and barbed wire of “Sludge”. “Shit Sells” is a slam down that clocks in at barely a minute-and-a-third with a dive-bombing guitar figure the lasting hallmark. The whole EP rushes past in 11 minutes so it’s obviously a meal to be consumed fast rather than pushed around a plate.
Cover art is by Ben Brown (which is always a plus) and of course you can cop a listen at the bandcamp link below.
3/4
