New Band To Burn One To: Rhin

When new bands come along, they’re always compared to acts that came before, whether you want to call it lazy journalism or a helpful way of quickly assigning a sound to a band using an audience’s knowledge of music, therefore letting people make snap judgements to whether or not they want to listen to the band, i’m going to do it here really quickly: Rhin sound like The Melvins if they played a sludgy version of hardcore punk! It’s THAT damn good!!

Hailing from Shepherdstown, West Virginia (USA), Rhin was formed in June ’13, and they’re already about to release their second record, the face pummelling Bastard on Grimoire Records. Made up of members from the bands The Demon Beat, Black Blizzard, Bishops, and Nonhealer, this collective hardcore sludge troupe carry such ferocity that it’s hard to fathom how they don’t just implode after every song. They manage to perfectly contain their anger to wrap around their structured songs like a python chokehold, squeezing out every inch of passion and energy that the shattered bones of your brittle frame is all that remains. Each screeched vocal from Dominic Gianninoto, every fuzz-laden twang of Tucker Riggleman’s (good name) guitar, and every deathly crash of Ben Proudman’s drums leaves such a dirty taste in your mouth that you need to wash after every listen, but it’s glorious, being stripped down to our naturalistic bare essentials of rocking and fucking and rocking some more.

What Rhin manage to do that many other sludge/hardcore (Hardsludge or Sludgcore?) acts lose in amongst there raw playing, is that they keep the song structures at the forefront of the song, not losing themselves in self-indulgent tangents of noise, but remembering that they’re making music, brutal, aggressive, dirty, awesome music. Listen to a song such as the 1,000mph ‘Gravy’, the fuzzed out ‘Ted’s Shed’, or the head-pounding ‘Bull Doze’ and tell me that your life isn’t better, if not a bit dirtier, I know mine is. Embrace the filth! Get Rhin! SLUDGCORRREEE!!! 

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