In the darkness, barreling towards the center of the Earth there is a labyrinth of tunnels snaking their way all over the globe. They are filled with the blood of the innocent, of children asked to do the work of men, of men asked to do the work no one should have ever been asked to do. Their voices have been silenced, lost to time and history but if they could all scream out at once, if their anger and anguish could be quantified in musical form it may take on the venom-like qualities of Vancouver’s Baptists.
A little over a year ago Baptists exploded on to the scene with a truly volatile album filled with masterfully crafted blasts of pure animosity. Their second full-length album, Bloodmines, is about to hit the streets and like their first effort it is 11 tracks of pure hellfire and unrivaled vitriol. It’s an album that is pure sulfuric acid in sonic form, eating away at the layers of mediocrity floating around the music world today. It’s also a triumphant return for a band that made a lot of noise with their first album, both literally and figuratively. The difference being though that the noise they have created this time around is more robust in scope and more lethal in delivery.
At their most crazed, Baptists walk that line somewhere between crust/d-beat and grind influences. On tracks like “Vistas” and the title track though they change the pace enough to drag in noise rock and doom influences. It’s a congregation of extremes where the scripture studied is usually beyond fast and pissed, while brief moments of undulating sludge offer zero respite. Lyrics are spat forth like an unholy exorcism while a chorus of churning guitars, galloping beats and dirty rhythms lay the ground floor that Baptists comfortably call home. It’s a house built upon rage and fury unlike many others in the neighborhood.
Bloodmines is due out on October 14 via Southern Lord Recordings. You can check out the tracks “Harm Induction” and “Calling” over at the Baptists Bandcamp page.
