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Holy Fuck: Congrats – Album of the Week

30 May, 2016 — by Christopher Ratcliff0

holy fuck congrats album cover

Holy Fuck, the Toronto based four-piece who previously released three albums that sounded either like a Mogwaisy version of Fuck Buttons or a Fuck Buttonsy version of Mogwai, have finally found a sound on Congrats that suits them perfectly: electro-menace.

Now if I know bands, they HATE to be pigeon-holed, especially when it’s by the hand of some stupid music journo, so I’ll offer them a choice of alternative genres which they can pick from themselves. A special privilege never given to Washed Out who would’ve preferred anything else in the world over chill-wave. Poor guy never stood a chance. Anyway, here you go Holy Fuck, you can have either:

  • – Electro-menace
  • – Terror-disco
  • – Fear-core
  • – Sinister-wave
  • – Post-rock horror-psych
  • – Pant-ruining techno

Send me your choice to the usual address, and I’ll let NME know your preference going forward.

In the meantime, let’s uncover how Holy Fuck earned one of the above labels…

Album opener ‘Chimes Broken’ announces Holy Fuck’s arrival with percussion that sounds like your heart after three panic-attack inducing cups of coffee. It’s all low-level rumbling bass and indistinct vocals driven by warped electric guitars that threaten something terrifying over the horizon. Probably a coronary. ‘Shivering’ has the same hard-edged synths as a classic John Carpenter horror theme, but offset with some gorgeous angelic vocals and a stirring emotional crescendo that offers optimism where Carpenter offered nihilism and being murdered by a lunk in an old William Shatner mask.

‘House of Glass’ switches between the sound of being repeatedly pummelled by a pulse-rifle and a snaking, funky rhythm that’s the sexiest thing Holy Fuck have ever made. I won’t lie, I listened to this while playing Doom at 2am last Friday night and I haven’t really been able to sleep properly since. Perhaps one of the highlights on Congrats is ‘Acidic’, a track that manages to fuse noise-rock and… VERY bravely… ska music to create something furiously edgy yet danceable. It shouldn’t work, but I’m astounded it does.

holy fuck band

It’s this ability to create dancefloor smashes that threaten something deeply sinister lurking in the dark outer edges that make Holy Fuck such a compelling listen. Sure, they’ve borrowed elements and inspiration from some obvious sources, not least Underworld‘s take on high-art disco, but in terms of vision they’ve genuinely perfected this hybrid known as [insert Holy Fuck’s preferred genre here].

They’re not alone in this endeavour, Holy Fuck have many peers who in recent years have produced similar work, but Holy Fuck stand apart from the rest; Boards of Canada offered peak existential dread withTomorrow’s Harvest but that’s a tough listen. Fuck Buttons eschewed hypnotic electronica on Slow Focus to create an album that sounds like the last few moments before someone is torn apart by wild dogs. Mogwai chilled out considerably on perhaps one of their most pleasingly melodic albums Rave Tapes, but the terror had gone. It’s Holy Fuck who are truly bringing the fear to dance music.

Of course you may well wonder, “Why does dance music need to have an air of menace?” And you’d be right to ask. After all dance music is about giving your mind and body completely over to the rhythm and forgetting about all the dark and terrible things in the world. It’s Holy Fuck’s duty to remind you that come the apocalypse, the disco might not be the safest place to hide, but it will be the most fun.

Check out all the latest music releases in our new album reviews section, including Autechre’s elseq 1-5.

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Holy Fuck - Congrats
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