Rape Faction is a group who makes scuzzy, disgusting, low-life music. At no point does the music know what’s going on fully. Guitars jut this way and that being tortured beyond belief. Bass lumbers through each of these eight tracks. Vocals fail to find their way through the hazy noise. It is fantastic.
“Vaporizer” shocks you into their world. The bass is fuzzed out to near-cartoonish effect. Or it would be funny if it wasn’t so loud. Listening to the song, it appears to be stuck in its own grimy nightmare. “Whiteboy Uptown” sounds like mid-80s Butthole Surfers. Yes, it actually is that chaotic. Drums keep up a martial beat as the guitars try in vain to avoid vast fields of feedback. “2010” barely has a bass line; it is more of a relentless pulse. Guitars grow into a giant mess.
The interludes help you cope with the large amount of noise for they don’t believe in bringing you in lightly. No, this Montreal-based band wants to drag you into some bad times. “Everything Dies” reminds me of some sort of dreadful addiction. You’re trying to wean yourself off, but the time moves so slowly. Guitars aren’t even concerned with avoiding feedback. On multiple occasions you can feel them heading into the point of no return, heavy into the red. Eventually it descends into guitar and drum noise.
Grimy doesn’t even begin to describe the depraved nature of this album. Familiarity with loud, abrasive shoegaze bands helps. Whatever the singer is singing is for atmosphere; picking out a lyric is near-impossible. No worries though. It is the atmosphere, so consistently kept up, alongside the decadent sound which makes this a real joy of an album.