This is a review of "Trick F*ck" recorded by Blacklisters. The review was written by Jonny Dickin in 2012.
I guarantee, this will be the noisiest song about pretty people you will ever here. From the second the song kicks in, its obvious what Blacklisters, the Leeds based, four piece noise rock band, are all about. Opening with a tirade of noise, this single is not for the faint hearted.
The thunderous tone of Owen Grifiths bass caries this song throughout, maintaining the melody and tune while Dante Beesley's guitar rips through with moments of pure noise. The combination of the two works on so many levels. On the one hand, you have the pair playing the same doom-driven riff that is prominent throughout most of the 2.58 assault, while on the other hand; Grifiths carries the riff while Beesley delivers an outburst of pure, unrelenting noise.
The vocal delivery on this track feels extremely terror-fueled; with Billy Mason-Wood screeching words of "handsome" people. The lyrics are about being as "pretty" and appealing as possible. Billy has a similar vocal style to that of label mates "Kong" with a distortion effect making the lyrics hard to hear clearly, but make them sound so much more menacing, I couldn't imagine the track without this effect.
The production of the track is spot on for the genre. There is nothing polished here. It sounds like a band rather than four people brought together by a label to sell records to the masses. Not many bands these days can achieve the feeling of energy in a studio environment, but this single sounds as though it could have been a direct live recording from a gig. Perfect. I always find that with this genre, the drum production is fantastic, and this is no exception. Alistair Stobbart, (drums) doesn't deliver anything to technical in his drum performance, but the sound that is achieved is so thumping, it's not even necessary.
The band released their debut album BLKLSTRS on 24th April on limited press red vinyl, CD and digital download on itunes and amazon.
For more information/tour dates, visit the bands facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/blacklistersmusic