MEN
KILLING MEN – freundschaft durch konsum
(pic12”,
interstellar)
The bandname, the cover design, the music, the message,
all of this makes fond memories of younger, more enthusiastic days come
alive, when the music I listened to was fast, harsh and direct to the bone, when I read
political fanzines the same way I read lyric sheets in hardcore/punk-records
and when I actually got excited about new records by bands I only had ever
read about. Skipping the nostalgia about my hardcore/punk-days, which in
reality never really happened too much outside my romantic mind, Men Killing
Men are far away from the next run of the mill trash-core band (or whatever
the current as fast and as screamy as possible-trend in hardcore is called
these days, back then there was power violence, screamo, you name it…) but
Men Killing Men are a fusion of a lot of other things as well. They take
equal parts noise rock (another old time favorite, but this one I think I
did live in some ways, but that only needed flannel shirts and beer
drinking, easy!), the dynamics of emo-core and the ability of avantgarde
noise to mix it with the attitude of punk rock. And yes, the mixture works,
a lot better than you might think. It works fantastically.
This is the reason why Men Killing Men may sound like
an old Dischord band in one moment, like the Ruins in the next and like a
teenage screamo band in the next. Vocals are mostly screamed, hoarse and
directly from the throat, while the instruments slowly build up a
thunderstorm of blasting drums and sharp guitar-bass-work. These three guys
probably spend four out of six evenings in their rehearsal room to work out
songs and then really make those stop and go’s, those breaks and those
changes in structure work. Probably that is why there are just seven songs
on this record. Another reason might be that it is a one-sided 12” so the
other side of the vinyl could be dressed in a nice silk screen printing.
Well, the fat layer of paint does look good on the thick vinyl, that is
true. But when we are all desperate and devastated at the state of the world
today, we might as well wallow in the darkest of conspiracy theories as
well.
Actually, Men Killing Men, albeit their sound, their
name and the record title “freundschaft durch konsum” (friendship by
consumerism / purchase, transl.) are not complete nihilists nor wading
through a swamp of teenage miserability, misanthropism or depression. There
is a lot that goes wrong in the bleak and void world, that they paint in
their lyrics, both emotionally and physically void by the way, but there is
always also a ray of something good, which usually focuses on a certain
“you” being there in the same hell also. Me, personally, I am of the
opinion that shared pain is at least 50 % more pain than half the pain, but
I’d also admit that it is a lot better to be stuck in shit up to your neck
with someone you like than being left that way alone. The dance on the
vulcan to celebrate the end of society as we know it has received another
fine sample for its soundtrack.
