The only downside of Ryan Patterson’s debut EP under the Fotocrime moniker is that with only three tracks, it’ll inevitably leave listeners wanting, no, yearning for more music from this new outfit.
The progression of Coliseum was leading to this. Gone were the in-your-face punk jams morphed subtly into these Killing Joke-style post-punk masterpieces by the time Anxiety’s Kiss dropped in 2015. Fotocrime is the culmination of where Coliseum was inevitably going and the results heard on their debut EP are staggering. Sharing DNA with songs like “Wrong_Goodbye” or “Sharp Fangs, Pale Flesh” off that last Coliseum album at points, Fotocrime is by no means a retread or an extension. It’s the next evolution of Patterson and his musical endeavors.
“Always Hell” picks up those pieces and runs the post-punk gamut and then some. “Plate Glass Eyes”, driven by a pulsating bass, just oozes post-punk beauty as Patterson’s vox just hum along with the amplified fuzz. “Tectonic Shift”, on the other hand, begins as synthetic bliss. Like the Vangelis Blade Runner score before changing into a tribal/electro monster.
And then you’re done. Left wanting more Fotocrime. Revisiting old Coliseum records hoping to hear an iota of Fotocrime’s blueprint and masterful songwriting.
Always Hell is out now. Yours can be acquired by clicking here.