Review: Sealings – S/T 12″ EP
Ω Originally featured in Mint Magazine
Hailing from the fittingly cold and stony beaches of Brighton, Sealings are essentially an informed punk band with a penchant for monstrous levels of noise. They release an EP on the brilliant Italian Beach Babes Records (Novella, Mazes, Cold Pumas) this month, and it leaves no questions as to exactly why this is a band you need to hear.
The EP opens with a ghastly avant-garde vocal lurch not unlike S.C.U.M.’s early tunes, except ‘Quiggers Pure Indie’ as a whole places more of a focus on a crackling score of distorted guitar… It’s oddly encapsulating, with plodding drums and gasp-for-air pauses, until the hugely melodic guitar solo at the climax completely blows their cover. It’s literally massive – cutting through like an arrow and melting right inside the ears, and from this point it’s evident that this band really means business. ‘Jon Mann’ follows up as the first of two epitomic punk tunes, this being of the guitar-shredding type, again exploding with a wailing finale (including a full-on horror-movie scream), whilst the other, ‘Punk Perv’ provides a superb re-tread of classic punk with a gold-plated 3-chord riff – a definite highlight.
What’s most impressive about the record though, is its diversity. Each of the 6 songs of this quick-fire set provide a distinctly different angle, and yet there’s nothing irrelevant or inappropriate to the collected sound. ‘Swear To Me’ breaks out as what would be the ‘quiet song’ (if it wasn’t immersed in a tunnel of lo-fi distortion), leaving ‘Face Basement’ to wrap things up as an almost-pop song with its verse-chorus structure and on-off dynamic. Sealings are completely summed up with this brilliant record: an utterly captivating band who prove that being new doesn’t mean you can’t be old.
Rating: ★★★★
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