THE BANNER

Okay, it's September and we have just a short time until the end of 2008. That means there is just over 3 months for someone to beat this album. Consider Biohazard at their mid-90s best, and add a touch of early Helmet, Fudge Tunnel, and perhaps even a pinch of Killswitch Engage (before they turned shit). That is New Jersey's The Banner. Commencing with a short piece (the fantastic ‘Welcome Fuckers’) that assumes some kind of demented country twang, the album really kicks off at track two ('The Wolf') and hardly lets up the pounding aggression from then on. Only 'Dusk', with its slight doomy-ballad flavour, turns the pace down to a solemn level before the end is in sight. I don't think I've been this impressed by such a relentlessly focussed album since Mary Beats Jane left me jaw-dropped all those years ago. Stripped of all superfluous flabby excess, the songs never outstay their welcome and serve only to weave a tale; and smack you around the face. For fun. Favourite track is the ferocious 'Ratflesh' with its head-throbbing manic oeuvre. The pace once again slows for a final time during the massive 'The Father and the Wayward Son'. Vocalist Joey isn't perhaps the most versatile singer currently venting his passionate barks, but he is very much suited to the brutal onslaught of sonics that the rest of the band throws his way. This is The Banner's third album (discounting the split with Dead Wrong in 2004), and I am intrigued to further understand their journey to this point. Were they always this intense, or has it been a traditional honing process? In the meantime, I can happily let this CD do its job of bashing my head in. See you in A&E.

LABEL:

FORMAT:

Ferret Music

Album

FRAILTY

Review by Steve Cowan

RUNNING TIME:

34:44

RELEASE DATE:

10th June 2008

TRACK LISTING

1) Welcome Fuckers
2) The Wolf
3) Leechbath
4) A Hellbound Heart
5) On Hooks
6) IWIWD
7) Sphrenia
8) Funerals
9) Dusk
10) I Am Legion
11) Ratflesh
12) The Father and the Wayward Son

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:

USA

"I don't think I've been this impressed by such a relentlessly focussed album since Mary Beats Jane left me jaw-dropped all those years ago."