Backslider – Consequences 10” – Deep Six

I’m just going to get this out of the way now; I’m a big Backslider fan.  I don’t know them personally and they’ve never sent me any merch; I’m just a big fan of their blend.   I’d go so far to say that their song “Squatter Stomper”, off their split with Chainsaw to the Face and V/A – “100 in ‘10”, would reside in my top 25 favorite songs ever recorded, if such a list existed; no hyperbole.  It’s an 18 second song that I could loop into 4 hours.  So needless to say, I was pretty stoked to see this 10” come out on Deep Six.

A little background, Backslider is a 2 piece fastcore band from Philadelphia.  Playing bass free, they have a discography comprised of a couple splits, a couple 7” e.p.’s, and now this 10”.  I feel what differentiates Backslider’s brand of fastcore from other blazing fast hardcore bands is the evolution of their sludge/doom incorporations which becomes even more apparent on Consequences.  Backslider also manages to stay hard throughout each of their tracks, despite their blistering tempo.  Their aggression is never compromised by the need to play faster or change up vocally.  Sonically, Backslider is the D-Cell battery flying from the upper deck of old Veterans Stadium.

Digging into Consequences, we get to hear that sludge/doom influence evolve even further.  The album opens with a dirty 90’s sludge, Eyehategod-esque riff, reminiscent of their “Steady Diet of Vitriol” track on the Nimbus Terrifix split.  From there it explodes into supercollider speed hardcore, splitting atoms and eardrums.   Strained, caveman vocals bark each track with pissed off fuck you’s to everyone from Sanduski and Paterno, to the Phelp’s family.   The album continues at that patented Backslider pace until we’re hit again with another doomed out intro to a track that explodes into fastcore.  “Blue Line” (the cop killer Dorner track) starts fast and progresses to a slow beat down moment which stomps out the A side of the album.  Surprisingly though, the album changes directions on the B side, where they throttle back the tempo and dedicate themselves to that sludge influence they’ve sprinkled in throughout their blend in the past.  These B side tracks are thick as fuck.  It’s such a change of contrast from their fastcore that I had to double check the RPM’s on my player.  The Backslider sound on Consequences comes across a bit more refined as opposed to the 12 tracks in 4 minutes approach they’ve hammered out in the past.  Make no mistake though, Consequences still packs that traditional Backslider aggression and speed, they’ve just showcased their range with a couple songs bringing that tormented, pummeling, sludge influenced hardcore.

Overall, Consequences is American muscle forged in frustration.  After they blow you away from starting line to finish line, you get to watch them roll down your main street doing 5 mph under with a hairy forearm hanging out the window.  Consequences is a plus blend of sludge, powerviolence, and fastcore from one of the best in the genre.  Props to Deep Six for putting out a large vinyl from these killers.