Yowie has requested I write up a review on their recent album: Damning with faint praise.
I was taken aback when I first listened to this album. I read online that Yowie was math rock, and I was honestly expecting music similar to Medium Slut- You Bastard. I was quite wrong.
While Yowie is math rock, it focuses on a louder, more technical sound. The opening track, Slowly but Surely, starts with guitar slides reminiscent of Daughters- Hell Songs. Whats more, the drummer occasionally adds a quick double bass pump furthering the likeness to grindcore. this similarity to grindcore, however, faded out of mind mind within a couple minutes as time signatures switched and a focus on strange guitar arpegiations became apparent.
One of the weak points of this album, was the bands unwillingness to ride out some of their rhythms. Often just as a quickly as a sound materializes it is gone. The sounds tend to progress faster than I want, as though the band considers jamming a race.
This brevity is furthered by the short length of the album. At just under 30 minutes, the album leaves the listener asking for more.
One of my favorite parts of Damning with faint praise was some of the riffs buried inside the songs. While the lower notes could have been mixed up a bit more, they are great nonetheless.
After finishing this album I listened to some of Yowie's older tracks on Cryptooology. Overall, I would say Damning with faint praise is stronger; it is more aggressive, and plays more into dissonant realms. it is hard to say which album I prefer the drumming on though. The drums in Cryptooology remind me of the drumming in Silencio, especially the use of the cowbell.
Overall, if you are looking for math rock with a bite, a Hella meets XBXRX, than Yowie's 2012 album 'Damning with faint praise' is a good choice.
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