Like Greg Puciato simultaneously fronting The Kinison, He Is Legend, and Refused circa The Shape of Punk to Come, The Nika Riots immediately stand apart with the righteous Rawk they bring forth on the incendiary Derelict. Barring those comparisons, the music itself is simultaneously textured, divine, and unrelenting and with Derelict, The Nika Riots has delivered a debut record that’s definitely demanding of your attention.
“Derelict Beat” is not so much an anthem for The Nika Riots as much as it’s a warning to those who might not yet be ready for the experience they’re about to undertake and from there the layers of heavy just build and build. “Inertia” is a riotous follow-up that ups the ante and continues the pummeling pace set on “Derelict Beat” with thunderous drumming colliding with monstrous vocals while “Perseverance” is the first to have that HIL vibe with a massive chorus which really brings to the light the songwriting depth hidden at the core of the heavy complete with grand piano passages that add to the weight of the sound.
“Homage To the Mute” is a sprawling, spiraling beastie with “NikaNikaNika” bringing the raucous kind of anthem you came for with barely 45 seconds of just a full on aural assault. “Like Swans” is a sludgy shredder and one grueling, nasty number which brings to mind HIL’s It Hates You and that album’s perfect melding of harmony and heaviness with a bit of flamenco and inspired organ tones creating a trippy atmosphere at its’ conclusion. “Crime Tapes and Weltschmerz” may start off the quietest but quickly becomes one of the loudest here displaying some technical ecstasy within bordering on Prog at times in the way that Goes Cube used to do so well with “Above The Law” exploding into existence next with a positive message repeated in the chorus which stands like a shining light in the eye of the storm.
Later on, “I Buried Someone Yesterday” is a whole other level of excellence featured on this bold debut and a fitting conclusion as it gives a sonic recap of all that’s come before it while injecting new waves of musical ingenuity to give listeners proper closure but also, like the best records, leaves ’em wanting more.
Derelict arrives on April 29th through Mas-Kina Recordings. Stay tuned to these links here, here, and here to get yours the instant it drops and for the newest nitty gritty on The Nika Riots, follow the socials across the information superhighway when you click here, here, or here.