Snake – ‘Love, Hate, Life, Death’ – The New *LIVE* EP

Snake – Kingston Upon Thames, England, United Kingdom.

The forces of UK Punk continue to rise.

Snake have a long history of personnel changes within their line up and now exist as stripped down two-piece made up by two brothers hailing from Kingston Upon Thames, London, playing a loud and distorted set of discordant Hardcore Punk.

The first release as a two-piece, wasn’t recorded how you would expect. It was played and recorded live; no gloss applied. My eyebrows were raised immediately upon reading this, I dropped what I was doing and cranked it up.

Because of it’s recording, you get a real, and indeed, full-frontal view of the band that doesn’t disappoint. The band’s sound sits as a modern rendition of the old-school US Punk and Hardcore of the eighties, but with a British twist. Think Black Flag, Misfits (to an extent) and maybe even some slightly later bands such as Sick Of It All.

‘Love’ is our song title of track one. It’s almost as it we are being broken in lightly, except we aren’t. ‘Love’ bounds along with a doomie ‘n’ gloomie, low set of riffage that is by far a more than acceptable way to incite head banging.

‘Love’ had it’s go and now it’s the turn of ‘Hate’. An immediate thought was how I was reminded by Black Flag’s ‘Wound Up’ upon hearing the intro chord progression on this one. It’s faster, but just as low, with the aggression heightened.

‘I’M A LOST SOUL! I’M A LOST SOUL! I’M A LOST SOUL! I’M A LOST SOUL!’

It’s time to crack on with your ‘Life’ now, come on, get on with it! More dirty rhythms play us in, in a way that you can only imagine sounds a hundred times as huge when heard live.The pace and low distortion is relentless throughout and the beefy break downs towards the end really make the track.

‘You keep a knife inside, I’m staying away from you – they said you’d be so kind,  but you’re evil through and through!’

‘Death’ is another number just over two minutes that boasts nothing but dirty-riffed, Hardcore Punk and a hoarse vocal assault.

This may only have been a four track release, but by the gods of noise, it’s a good one. On a personal level, it’s releases like this that are returning my ears to the heavier styles of Punk. It might just do the same for you.

Check out the band in the follow places:

• Updates and general tomfoolery – Their Facebook page.
• Free/Name your price music – Their bandcamp profile.
• For merchandise and, well merchandise – Their bigcartel store.

#StayFresh