Review: Spite House - s/t

Label: New Morality Zine

SPITE HOUSE's 3-Song-Promo from February is one of the very best releases of the year. The band out of Montreal in Canada wrote three perfect songs that, while being similar in their emotional tone, all had their own twists and didn't give away in which exact direction the three-piece would head with their selftitled debut album. The opener "Afraid" was a fast and crushing rager, the last song "Essence" was their attempt at a ballad and the middle-song of the Promo ("Gravity") was exactly just that, the middle ground between the first and the last song...

Now the album got its release via New Morality Zine. And honestly, it was merely impossible for them to match my personal expectations. Quite frankly, they didn't, but still... they more than did! The songs from the Promo are present on the LP and they're among the best songs on the record. The "downside" to the 7 previously unreleased songs is, that they don't add much more in terms of variety. The upside? I mean, they don't have to. They further intensify this magic feeling that the band creates and round up  one of the tightest records Post-/Melodic-Hardcore has seen in a very long fucking time!

The most unbelievable thing about this album is, how trained and well-defined SPITE HOUSE sound despite being in an early stage of their run. While many bands are in search of their identity after forming, it seems that SPITE HOUSE already have found their vision. They have a striking, distinctive style that combines straight'n fast No-Thrills-Punkrock with ever-present and fresh melodies, longing and hopeful vocal delivery and noisy (you could even call it "shoegaze-y") undertones that change their sound picture at large. Some weeks ago I compared them to SOMERSET THROWER, FARSIDE and SAMIAM. They cite the latter themselves as a big influence, alongside SEAWEED and JAWBREAKER. You also gotta mention HOT WATER MUSIC and many other bands they spawned, like SMALL BROWN BIKE, early MAKE DO AND MEND, FIDDLEHEAD or TITLE FIGHT. Yet, the longer I'm listening to SPITE HOUSE, the more I am convinced that they're the reincarnation of the legendary but consequently overlooked GARDEN VARIETY. Similar to them they combine noisy "Wall of Sounds" with a furious pace, and vocals that nearly get buried in the mix. But this is a small little something that adds a ton to their charme. The passionate voice of lead singer Max Lajoie consistently battles against the sheer volume of the drums, the bass and the guitar and suddenly I'm wondering why there aren't more bands in this genre to be using this cool stylistic. Talking about the personell itself, the three-piece acts extremely tight throughout the album and the platitude of "these three make noise for six people" is right at home on "Spite House". Last not least, I'm impressed by their bass player, as he seems to be the the perfect link between the drummer and the guitarist/singer. Did I mention the outstanding mood of this record? Deeply saddening at times, cause Max wrote the lyrics after his mother passed away, but also kind of spiritual and very uplifting. You can totally feel the relieve he must got while shouting out those words. It's the definition of "bittersweet"...

What else to say but, this is one of 2022's absolute highlights and you should get into it before you miss it. SPITE HOUSE are better off disbanding now, cause with a debut album like that it probably can't get any better. But first, let them play europe a bit!

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