Something brilliant from the terrible Midlands

Anyone familiar with the UK independent hardcore scene will know of the untimely demise of the mighty Blakfish two years ago. This crippling shot to the nuts did however have one positive; the birth of Brummie trio &U&I (not like an actual weird birth of three fully grown, bearded men at the same time, just like… shut up, you know what I mean).

Constructed from the 3 remaining members of Blakfish, their sound is just as raw while remaining strangely catchy and comforting. Light Bearer is their debut full-length release and a jolly good one at that. The album, released on 21st October 2011 on ondryland records has been labelled with many genres from indie to mathcore but all you need to know is that it’s super fucking sweet. Everyone knows hardcore bands are awesome. it’s just a fact, and while this band may not be strictly hardcore, this fact definitely applies to them.

Buy this album, whack it in the old walkman and put on your headphones, after a short intro you will start to feel a funny sensation. It doesn’t take long to realise that this is your face being punched in so hard that it’s pulled off of your skull and melted with a massive fucking piece of fire. Or something. Then just while you’re in the midst of this ridiculous onslaught of grinding riffs and irregular time signatures, you hit the centre-piece of the album, the eye of the storm, a track entitled ‘Super Five’. The chilling softness of the song allows you to recuperate slightly and relax your pummelled eardrums. However this sense of security is short lived as you are yet again propelled into the sheer chaos that is ‘Light Bearer’.

The album has you reaching for the repeat button as it continues to amaze until the very end of the climactic final number ‘Above the Abyss’ with Adebisi Shank guitarist Lar Kaye chipping in for good measure. While the album does have a hardcore vibe running throughout, almost every track has gentle, angular guitar parts and memorable vocal melodies intertwined. The construction of conflicting sounds makes this release an absolute must-have for anyone. If you have been at all interested by this incredibly poorly constructed piece of written information (thanks science) then buy this album now (either on iTunes or andyouandi.net). Think of it this way, you can either buy this album or continue to spend your student loan on vast amounts of cheap beer, cheap porn and cheap food. Do you literally want to become a mega drunkard masturbating lardman? Yes? That’s sick, and something else sick is that you can often find &U&I doing shows in London and if you happen to see one advertised then go, the shows are even better than the album. Seriously, buy this album, go to a show, if you don’t love it then at least you can be safe in the knowledge that you are dead inside. Every cloud, eh.