SERMON
Traitor EP
1. Schwach
2. Traitor
3. Maßlos
4. Tiefschlaf
5. T-Shirt Game
Germany's Sermon existed a few years ago, and went on to form the amazingly chaotic The Kinetic Crash Cooperation. This band were a rather more conventional hardcore attack, combining elements from bands such as Coalesce, Converge and Kiss It Goodbye with a twisted edge.
Released August 1st, 2005.
Limited to 420 EPs on solid yellow.
Art by Erich Fletschinger.
Reviews
If their music is anything to go by, it would seem that Sermon are the type of people to stoically set themselves apart from humanity, living up in some distant mountain stronghold and rigorously honing their killing skills for some perceived day of reckoning. Blink and you’ll miss them coming right at you with their fifteen-second opening salvo, a blast of noise that somehow sounds like Neurosis engulfing Discordance Axis, marrying ferocious speed with some grand-sounding chords that give an epic quality to a song that vanishes before you know what the babbling fuck just happened. The rest of the record is a dizzying combination of grind, hardcore and metal, juggling the kind of discordant, snaggletoothed riffs that could’ve arisen from one of the last few Converge albums with the flat-out speed and brutality of a band like Nasum, all to the rasping screams of a horrified man being mummified by a giant spider.
Whether they’re grinding away like madmen, slowing their tricks down to a hunchbacked lope or fucking around with the kind of sadistically twisted riffs that could break necks a mile away, Sermon are doing it fucking well, throwing enough tricks and twists into their sound to keep you worrying about just what the hell is going to happen next, compelling you to spin the record again and again, even though each and every time is like apple-bobbing in a barrel full of razorblades...
- Collective-Zine
Chaotic and grinding metalcore from Germany with a unique approach to thick dissonance. This recording dates back to 1998 and the band is defunct at this point, but I believe the 7" itself has only just recently been released for the first time. Strange, but regardless, expect gruff screaming vocals that are totally indecipherable and music that shifts between blasting speeds and pounding chords with lots of caustic note choices and dissonance involved. "Schwach" is super fast and shreds through in a flash, "Traitor" has some slower passages and a good persistent rhythm, "Tiefschlaf" is very energetic and has some fucked up drum patterns that really stand out (in a good way), etc. The production is ultra thick and needs tweaking, but it is solid. The drums and vocals sound great, while I'm not hearing much in the area of bass, and the guitars could use a little more crunch. It sounds fine in the end, though. I really enjoy the layout, which takes some dirty textures layered over images of cityscapes and gives the appearance of a fiery sort of post-apocalyptic landscape, with lyrics on the inner sleeve (some in German, some in English). The English lyrics are a mix of personal stuff and commentary on the scene and whatnot, so I'm assuming the German text is along similar lines. This isn't the greatest thing I've ever heard, but it's pretty powerful and curious in that it does have a bit of a different twist to this sound going on. It's a shame they broke up, as with more work on the writing they really could've gone somewhere. Also notable is that this is one of those rare records that plays perfectly (though quite differently, of course) at both 33rpm and 45rpm, as I listened to and enjoyed the entire thing at 33rpm before realizing that wasn't even the right speed! Two for one! Ha… I love that. 7/10.
- Aversionline
This is kind of a strange release in a way. The recordings date back from 1998 and features a german band which doesn't play bad metalcore! I really wonder where Superfi keeps getting these unknown bands with a love for dissonance and angular rythms. Sermon starts of the first side of this ep with an In/Humanity infected track. Short, fast and pissed off. It's done before you know it. Then "Traitor" takes over and slows down the pace with a pumping choppy rythm. The sound is kind of muddy but still convincing enough.The b-side has more metal (influences) on it. But the drummer keeps everything interesting with some off beat patterns. Personally i liked the previous tracks a bit more because of the variation. Maybe the singer should've brought more variation in his voice too, it's a bit too monotonous for my taste. But all the tracks have a nice flow and keep pounding in your stomach. Not a bad posthumous release for this band. And fans of Converge, Hard To Swallow and everything else in between should get this from Superfi.
- Mashnote