Snake – ‘Winter’ – A Concept EP Via Hauntingly Dark Hardcore.

Snake – Kingston Upon Thames, England, United Kingdom.

For our previous work on the Love, Hate, Life, Death EP – Click Here.

Linked above you is a article we wrote last year, on a London based two-piece band formed by two brothers. Under the name Snake, this aforementioned release was recorded live, showcasing four tracks of dark, damp and intense old-school Hardcore Punk that boasted as one of my favourite releases that year.

Go forward a year to 2016 and the brothers Spence have returned with something I did not expect, even when I was told prior to release, that this would be – ‘a bit different’.

Winter is a three-track concept EP, tackling the season of Winter in both it’s literal sense and as broader representation of a seasons change, both literally and figuratively, as well as the dark theme of discontent both the season itself and the aesthetic of the word in descriptive use embodies. *Deep Breath*

\\Winter//

That may have been a mouthful, but what the band have done with this release is more than a simple EP release on bandcamp. Snake ventured out into the dark British winter, to the city and to the countryside to film a video montage aiming to catch the bleak nature of winter’s physical representation before exploring beyond that for the soundtrack. The video version of the EP will be posted at the end.

‘I’ of the three hits the music notes of modern beatdown-Hardcore, in the vein of the slower build ups and accompaniments to the hoarse vocals assaults you usually get, but instead of acting as a refrain or gap filler, this pace fills the whole song, making it perfect for an intro to the EP.

‘How bitter the cold, and when will it end? How will it feel, is this it?’

‘II’ is the Snake I was expecting, sounding like Black Flag if they’d been a NYC Hardcore band, as the ferocious intensity of the last release is back with a vengeance. The contrast to the last track is stark and prominent but ‘II’ still feels like a part of the EP.

The slow build up from ‘I’ was always going to explode from it’s confines and does so explosively, before at the end of ‘II’, it slows down for a hard hitting, simplistic, but heavy-as-shit set of break-downs before a dulcet drumbeat leading to ‘III’.

The fact this band are a two-piece was very hard to comprehend on the first release, yet alone this one.

‘The roof has caved, only a tarp to protect, Hung over beams like the skin of a dead snake, Across the bones, the few that remain, When we get old will we end up this way?’

‘III’. Said drumbeat, in almost military fashion, taps you in before simply smashing-out it’s rage slowly with anger and discontent, before hoarse vocal screams and slow crunching intro-riffs play then fade slowly into nothing, the nothingness of winter, before the percussion gives out to the cold. Winter indeed.

‘Dead leaves, dead eyes, bare trees, black ice – Cold snap, let go, wait for, no one’

The second EP from the Kingston Upon Thames Londoners, Snake. I was pleasantly surprised by this EP, as it stands as an ambitious move from the the last release, yet is still very much the same two noise-mongers, it’s dark, intense and oh so incredibly real and does the world Punk and Alternative Music credit in it’s versatility within heavy music.

Find Snake below and have a watch of the EP video below that for the best experience of Winter.

• Facebook for updates.
• For both of Snake’s release, head to bandcamp where they are up for ‘FREE/Name Your Price’ download.

#StayFresh