Genre : Mathcore
Released : March 24th, 2023
Label : Dark Trail Records
FFO : The Callous Daoboys, Heavy Heavy Low Low, Steaksauce Mustache
When it comes to mathcore I feel like you have two camps you can choose from :
The super heavy technical bands that will rack your brain as you try to keep up with whatever the hell is going on ; and the bands that do exactly the same thing but with an eccentric, unabashed sense of raucous, self-aware silliness.
The rambunctious Australian dissonance-makers Basil's Kite are most definitely part of the latter, in case the album title's wordplay hadn't hinted at that enough.
"Shooting Tsars" opens with yet another play on words with "Baroque Obama", an opener that is as eyebrow-raising as its title, introducing the listener to a chaotic frenzy of wacky mathcore goodness which includes plenty more of the band's sardonic humour, including a childhood account of shooting down a seagull, witnessing it getting brutally finished off (The Lighthouse reference?? ) by the narrator's dad before being branded as a killer.
Honestly, what in the AdultSwim type of fuckery is this.
Things only get better with album closer "Baby" which includes lines such as "I wanna be a baby, I wanna shit my pants" (same tbh) in what I imagine is a self-aware conclusive jab at the band's zany, semi-nonsensical approach to lyrical content, while possibly poking fun at people like me who desperately need to attach meaning to a band's lyrics.
Anyway, if you like your mathcore silly and topsy-turvy (Australia funny haha), this will most likely tickle your pickle.
See ya cunts.
Favourite tracks : Sun Is Smiling, Wiggle,
Bi-Curious George, Seagull, Train Song
(Basil's Kite promo pic - Nova Farrell)