FIG. 4.0 / STAND
Split EP
F1. A Clergyman's Slaughter
F2. One Black Umbrella
F3. Millenium Mosh Manifesto
F4. The Object Of Your Own Disdain
S1. The Ritual
S2. I Listened To Heavy Metal On Christmas Day And Now God Hates Me
Two UK bands that were different in style but close in terms of friendship.
Fig. 4.0 from Leeds had their roots in pop-punk but mixed it with thrashy stop-starts and an almost powerviolence vibe.
Stand from Hull take their cues from metallic hardcore all with a righteous message.
Dedicated to the memory of Ben Lane from Stand who passed away on November 20th 2004 after fighting Hodgkin's Lymphoma for over two years.
Released on June 15th, 2003.
Limited to 628 on thick, 70 gramme vinyl.
Tour edition: 106 on black, with special xeroxed sleeve.
Normal edition: 522 on pink, with a cool-looking cover.
Reviews
Fig 4.0 get the ball rolling with more of the brilliant mix of styles that dominated their “Action Image Exchange” long player. Its Strike Anywhere wrestling with Spazz and it all sounds so fuckin good. A great band. Come back to Ireland again lads please. Stand are equally as good as Fig 4.0 but play a completely different style of music. They go for the whole metalcore thing but are heavily socio-political when it comes to their lyrics. They also have a good song structure and they keep it interesting with quiet interludes and spoken word parts. The screaming vocals are great. A damn fine split record, which comes on a heavy slab of pink vinyl and well worth sending off for.
- Unfit For Consumption
Fig. 4.0 kick this off with wild stop/start thrash with tons of parts and changes. Maybe like a slightly less jokey and very rockin' Your Mother. Flip it over, and Stand serve up a serious serving of metal. They also run the gauntlet from heavy to melodic and back again, but when they're heavy, they're crushing. There's a lot going on up Leeds way. This is ace all round. Nice packaging too.
- Maximum Rock'n'Roll issue 246.
The UK's Fig. 4.0 starts this split out with snotty punk rock/hardcore with lots of melody and some bursts of faster hardcore chords. It's very quirky in its use of quick shifts stylistically, but they really pull it off. The vocals range from screams to yells to slight singing, and along with some energetic tempos and strong melodic breaks can be pretty catchy at times. They even border on some pop-punk or total rock 'n' roll breaks on occasion. The recording is on the raw side and should be cleaner for as busy and diverse as the writing is, but I can handle it. Stand (also from the UK) follows with heavier and more serious sounding material with a darker metallic "screamo" sort of edge, complete with hoarse vocal screams and discordant guitars. They've got a good blend of tempos and I like their use of chunky chords, though I'm not into the straight metal riffs. The eerie clean breaks are fucking awesome, though. The production is cleaner on these songs, not bad, it's pretty evenly mixed and clear with solid roundness to the rhythm section. The artwork and lyrics of course deal with religion and sexism, as stated in the title of the split, with a xeroxed insert letting each band take one side for their message. Both bands take a pretty straightforward and honest approach, which is nothing new based on the topics involved (and the same goes for lighthearted song titles like "Millennium Mosh Manifesto" and "I Listened to Heavy Metal on Christmas Day and Now God Hates Me!"), but it all works just fine. The 7" is pressed on ultra thick pink vinyl to boot. This is a strong split between two very different bands, and I'd love to hear more from Fig. 4.0. Stand isn't so shabby, it's just not quite there for me yet. Good work overall, however. 7/10"
- Aversionline
My postie most go weight training getting this 7" to me as the beautiful candy pink vinyl is so thick if you smashed it against the wall you'd have to call out and emergency building and still be able to play this record scratchless to him when he arrives. This is a split 7" Fig 4.0 supplying 4 tracks and Stand 2 tracks, as their are alot longer. Fig 4.0 have recently had a split released with Ensign on HHN Records, and a split with Twofold is imminent, but I remember over hearing someone say that these were the best tracks supplied to these splits and I can see that. These guys seemed to have slowed down and the melody and the tracks have definitely benefited from that as these 4 tracks were instantly likeable. In fact I would say these are the best tracks I've heard from Fig 4.0 to date and from the evidence here I think that their next full length will be a cracker, not that the first one wasn't. Stand's contribution is 'The Ritual' and the wonderfully titled 'I listened to heavy metal on Christmas day and now God hates me' (nice) if you've got their recent split with HHH you'll know where this band are coming from savage metal influenced throat bleeding dark hardcore with slower spoken word intervals between the slaughter, there's not much I can say this is just good stuff. Two great bands and one great UK release only 500 pressed so get it while it's hot !!!!
- UK Base
What the fuck! This record is so thick that I could kill a guy with it. It is also pink, and has some of the most hideous packaging I have ever seen but I think that's the whole idea.
Fig 4.0 I haven't heard in ages, but they are still rocking out in a way fun fashion. 4 songs of riotous hardcore / punk that seems to cover a lot of ground, going from fast and straight up hardcore to tuneful and melodic Lifetime style stuff at the drop of a hat. Everything seems to happen within the space of one song. Even when they play really fast there is always some super melodic guitars blasting away underneath. Good lyrics too, particularly "Millenium Mosh Manifesto" about twats at shows who don't understand how to dance nice. Good split, and make sure you read the insert too, ya big dope.
- Collective Zine