GROUP SEIZURE'S DEBUT ALBUM HYBRID VIGOUR OUT NOW THRU SOLAR/SONAR (SHOCK)
Online ordering from www.shock.com.au
// 23.02.2007 - REVIEW - The Age (EG) // 4.5 stars
Melbourne's Group Seizure play electro-noise-rock with nihilistic conviction, but don't think of them as emo-lite. This is the sound of Primal Scream playing to a frothing mass of hard-core punks - a crystallisation of the claustrophobic mental violence of being alone and scattered at 3am. It's a harrowing mix - all 4/4 stomp bass, mechanical drum beats and eerie samples - anchored by a pastiche of shrieking vocals and Shellac-inspired guitar chuggery. Its genius is that, despite the band's relentlessly dark imperative, Hybrid Vigour is damn catchy and, belying their independent-label status, glossy enough to combat big-label fashionistas like the Blood Brothers. You can dance to these songs, and there is a sense of style that distinguishes them from the scenester pack. It's genre-busting, but there is a lack of aural variety. -Matt Joyce
// 02.2007 - REVIEW - Inpress //
Every now and then comes a band who distinctly separate themselves as 'doers' from the 'thinkers'; who seemingly execute their ideas at the same time as having them, without necessarily waiting to be 'ready' or for permission to be muiscally ambitious from the "doe their time" head-nodders. Kiosk are one, Group Seizure are another.
Not that Group Seizure haven't paid their dues: the Melbourne trio, whose gear encompasses guitar, bass, drum machine and synth, have been racking up the markings on their gig tally since forming in 2003, releasing a blistering EP in 2005. But it's with Hybrid Vigour, their debut album, that the threesome cast a terrifying shadow over every other band attempting to create post-post-punk electro-shock therapy/torture and embody every fitting letter of their name.
They've got the head-belting rythms that make Die! Die! Die! enchantingly raucous, along with the lording, body-shunting poer that Test Icicles did and fellow locals Damn Arms do carry - with the litheness and vision to pick whichever muscle they wanna flex at any given time. It's Suicide-via-The Blood Brothers screamy-industrial-synth flex for Non Compos Mentis and Like Houdini, and a dance-rythm-rough flex for Spastic In Time, with tribal Big Black and straighter punk flexes appearing throughout. They even slip a hand down below for a warped, distorted and fucking pleasurable 12-minute-plus stoner-rock wristy for the album's closer, 10 X The Lies.
Co-producer Lindsay Gravina (who also produced Damn Arms' Test Patters) proves it's full-paced, jagged synth-rock he works best with, letting the band tear their aural holes with the raw brutality of the songs (and vocals - Pete Dickinson wins you over from his first wincing screech) rather than thick production. And the ideas flow freely, instantly gratified and oh-so gratifying. Ready or not, here Group Seizure come. -Adam Curley
