Seattle, WA based curst/noise/grinders The Vatican aren’t interested in frills and bullshit. They aren’t interesting in giving you any time to consider much when it comes to how fast you can blow through The Trump Card EP. And good on that. Grindcore, like hardcore/punk is about blasting it out and getting it over with, right? Actually this EP is surprising and experimental despite its run time.
In the time it took me to write that first paragraph, I’ve almost gone through The Trump Card one time. Clocking in at under ten-minutes, but still pressing itself onto a twelve-inch LP, The Vatican is just about everything you’d expect from a grind band, but isn’t. Even from a noise aspect, The Vatican is an enigma. The first track is barely a minute and melds a moody, noisy into a blasting, skin-stripping beast. And then before you know it, it’s on to track two.
You'll notice immediately, this a punkier release in grind, to say the least. There’s something to be said for how shrill and banshee-like the band can become. The forty-four second “All In” takes no prisoners and pushes with a crustier edge. The band is in business when they’re blasting. But they’re also abrupt. Not just occasionally, they are constantly abrupt. Songs suddenly break into others and tempo just cliff dives. It’s disorienting but it might just put a smile on your face. It’s almost like listening to Die Choking.
If I’ve made it sound like The Vatican lacks focus, that’s not the case. Hell, even the final song “FUCKEDFROMBIRTH” sounds like it just shuts the door in your face after it’s near four-minute run time (the epic on the EP). But it works, weirdly enough. The pieces are all there, they’re just chopped and cropped. The noise ties them together, and it’s not your Merzbow/(do we now say old?)Prurient/Masonna noise approach either. There’s no screeching your ears off. Also the audio clip in “Flying Murder Robots” is awesome. And will probably make some people wince.
My complaint is only that the EP is too short. The constant cut offs and sporadic twists will grab heads and turn them but they’re both brief enough to be experimental and never long enough. Even for a grind EP this thing is on and over before you know it. You almost wanna make a mix in your music player that triples the album’s length. Still, it’s doing what a lot of grind bands aren't doing nowadays and that’s pretty commendable. It has identity; it stands out. It's not forgettable because it's got a consistent "what the fuck…?" factor. The Trump Card worth checking out. A few times.
Score: 8/10
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