Friday, March 1, 2013

AVON LADIES - AVON LADIES

If you want noisy and fucked up music, AVON LADIES certainly deliver despite having disbanded late last year. Their swan song, a four track self-titled EP, shows them continue their caustic chaos - although it should be noted that these tracks are the same that were on the Tempe SS split cassette tape so whilst not technically new, this is the first time these songs are on vinyl.

The first noticeable difference is that the production seems cleaner (The grittiness and charm of the tape is certainly there, but this EP has more in common with the Guns & Gold record). Chris Erba's vocals sound perfectly deranged; the wailing noise and feedback makes this relentless wave of malevolent energy. "Candy Sex" in particular sounds utterly dangerous and menacing. "Scrambler" takes that tone and ratchets the intensity to eleven, creating a very uncomfortable / claustrophobic vibe. Overall this is a killer EP; I just wish the band put out more music in their short life-span.

AVON LADIES' last tape Five was drenched in feedback and sounded grimy, adding a sense of a complete breakdown into the already agitated mess. While I would've liked to have more distortion incorporated on this EP, I want to say that Five was recorded after Overlords Chambermaids.

All that being said, AVON LADIES' self-titled record is a ripper that'll please its cult like following as well as fans of Japanese hardcore a la SYSTEMATIC DEATH, OUTO, etc. You can snag this record from a few distros such as Grave Mistake as well as Distort over in Australia. Don't sleep on this because like the rest of their releases, this will go OOP very quickly. And for the vinyl junkies, this comes on a nice darkish blue slab; I haven't seen a black copy, but apparently there's a green variant out there.

While the band has parted ways, members have moved onto other projects such as GAY KISS and DESTRUCTION UNIT.