Fuck Hammer
So as my first outing for Loud Stuff, I thought I’d get stuck into something really nasty and blisteringly heavy. Fuckhammer are certainly that.
The four track release ‘Hammered To Fuck’, under new label Grindscene Records, is bleak and sludgy and packs a mighty punch. The band are from Northern/Southern Ireland, and seem to be making waves on the scene.
Let me first just say, metal is going through a bit of a rough patch, it is completely saturated with bands that are just OK. It’s metal for metal’s sake, with very few bands really having a clue about what they have to say, or any idea about what the genre is all about. Metal has a proud history of drawing out misfits and moshers, and unifying us all under its banner. There’s a new genre appearing on pretty much a daily basis, and in all honesty, I don’t buy into that.. It’s either metal, or it’s not.
Fuckhammer are Metal. Their particular brand will appeal to fans of Iron Monkey, Crowbar and Carcass.
Track one, ‘Born Of The Ass’, kicks in with a mother-bitch-of-a-riff, oozing sleazy bass and guitar. It is apparent as the vocals kick in, that Fuckhammer do not stick to the usual path, with his vocals more early death metal than doom. In all, a killer opener.
The second track, ‘Drone’ has moments of real balls out, head chugging, monster guitar work. The drummer gets to show off some seriously nifty footwork.. Vocally it is a bit uninspired and formulaic, and could do with some really visceral and lengthy screams.
By far, my favourite track on the release is ‘Hillbillies’. From start to finish, it goes from meaty riff, into another meaty riff. It has moments of sounding like Down, which is no bad thing. Structurally it just works, with no ‘filler’ moments at all. This is Fuckhammer at their best.
Last up is the beautifully titled ‘Abortion Addict’. I’m not sure if this is some kind of stab at a ‘pro-life’ stance, or just a throwaway line to shock an increasingly un-shockable audience. Either way, it doesn’t seem to matter in metal anymore! The track is long, just over six minutes. They stick to their trademark of down tuned, beefy riffs, with dark vocals. It’s a quite a long track, and drags a little, which is a shame.
Overall I like Fuckhammer. They clearly know their ‘shit’ and have absorbed some of the better qualities of sludge metal. They show real flair for writing really massive, dark, doomy riffs. Vocally, I can see where they are coming from, but think that his style needs a bit of work. Lyrics and vocals should never be an after thought in any band.
For music that should represent the murky side of metal, it’s a little over produced, and it would have been nice to hear a bit more rough around the edges style production.
Recorded music can be such a throwaway and disposable format now, so I think it’s really important that anything a band does in the studio, should be an advert for what you can do live, an audio-flyer if you will.
I can imagine that live, they are an awesome band, and I’d probably go and watch them, as would many doom and sludge fans.
You can find out more about Fuckhammer here: http://fuckhammer.bandcamp.com/
Words: Kate Prothero