DEFCON 4 - File Under Fuck

Defcon 4
File Under Fuck
Black Box Recordings
7/10





Dissonant, rabid sounds are the order of the day as Boston’s Defcon 4 unleashes a barrage of Black Flag vs. Refused-inspired viciousness that attacks the listener with severity and rarely shows mercy. At times, however, the tortured ranting of frontman Dug Moore (you might have previously heard his name tossed around the pro skating circuit) sounds like he has a twelve volt battery charger attached to his scrotum. Literally, this guy sounds like he’s foaming at the mouth as he screams, squeals and otherwise emits injured vocalizations throughout the course of the record.

Exploding with varied tempos of blasting and plodding rhythms, the stop-start nature inherent in much of the band’s music produces highly intense shifts in dynamics as the group sways between tantrums of rage and bursts of depressive sludge. Veritable aural anarchy of this type helps to redefine the notion of harshness.As Moore and company rage through the spastic “Berzerker’s Rage” and the wildly uncontrolled “Comet Relief,” the voracious onslaught is decidedly unforgiving.

With the record’s title track, “Lonely Hour” and “American Society” standing out from the pack, fans of harmonic rebellion will most certainly rejoice. Although File Under Fuck certainly is not for everyone, fans of the punkier side of Converge as well as most other noisecore acts would do well to give these alcohol-fueled ravings a closer look. Defcon 4 certainly knows how to deliver unrestrained sonic anarchy in its purest possible form, earmarking this insanely spastic effort for cult icon status.

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