Halifax Collect: WORLD NARCOSIS - World Coda (+ Full Album Stream)

I often wonder why not all genres are made equal. Why do some allow all manner of experiments and adjustments and still retain their title – like the bloated ‘indie rock’ umbrella – whilst others become something completely different as soon as artists dare to borrow so much as an unorthodox drum beat? I don’t know. Debating genres is, after all, mostly a game of talking in circles but I do know that some of them – like death metal and grind – have a particularly strict set of rules to follow, the latter being a particularly narrow pen to play in. That is why it excites me when I hear a grind band that captures my attention.

On their debut 7” (review/stream) almost four years ago, World Narcosis was a band about velocity. Swimming in hyperventilation and Brutal Truths, speed was key, almost finishing before they began and indeed on World Coda, they do come blasting out the gates – ‘blasting’ being the operative word. This time feels different, though. Somewhere in the back there is composure, a feeling of control. The years between releases have clearly been spent in the study hall, prodding fences and testing limits, and what they bring to the table is something calculated and precise.

This album goes from 0 to 100 in two seconds flat. It dives straight in, showing what’s on offer: the guitars are razor sharp and heavy, I can actually hear the bass echoing uncomfortably in the background and erratic vocal layering and orgasmic squeals brilliantly offset any machismo vibes so often present with other bands within the genre. And then there is the drumming, which rattles and shakes throughout like marbles in a tumble dryer and are, to me, the album’s standout feature. The first half of the album constantly gives the illusion of losing control without actually doing so. Tracks like ‘Brumal Sleep’ and ‘Dead Days Run Amuck’ are high intensity, take-no-prisoners type of rides, rather nicely catering to adrenaline junkies and crusties alike (there are a couple of nods towards His Hero Is Gone in there with some nice doomsday-note picking) and just when I think I have World Narcosis pegged, they go ahead and surprise me.

What I first thought to be the album’s well-earned halftime breather – the appropriately named ‘Nigh(t)’ – turns out to be a pace-shifter instead. It took me a good while to realise that speed had permanently given way to a slower, heavier and more mournful direction. A harrowing interlude leads into the album’s 11 minute opus, ‘Swan Song City’, where the album reaches a zenith. Even though this statement song is perhaps not as magnificent as the band intended, it still dazzles and towards the end, pulls on your attention once more as they hand vocal duties over to a young woman. Staying, for the most part, in the spotlight for the remainder of the album, her piercing voice contrasts brilliantly with the steamroller-riffs, making her introduction yet another card in what is already an impressive deck of tricks. Finally, the album draws to a slow death, bleeding out through an acoustic guitar and a piano over a James Plotkin-esque disharmony of voices. A befitting exit for a band with such a name.

On the whole, World Coda is an achievement. It is deliberate, aggressive, full of ideas and belies the band’s age and output. That doesn’t mean that there are no chinks in the armour; they do feel more confident when they’re rolling in top gear, for example, and there are parts here and there that may have needed ironing out, for the sake of a more direct impact, but these are faults that disappear with time and experience. They are not what is to be taken from this album. What should stand out, as it has to me, is the intent with which it has been written. I hear a band that is not content with the blueprint they’ve been handed and are determined to push boundaries. That is why they are worth checking out.
- Kolbeinn Þorgeirsson

World Narcosis is playing their third and final album release show Thursday, May 21st. (poster below).