Countdown to FUCKNO: Part 14 Blood of The Bull

We've blogged about Blood of the Bull once before, and just to recap, Divorce guitarist Hillary Vanscoy makes alt-rock darkness that's so beautiful.

I just came across a review I never got round to publishing previously of her EP Four Small Bodies (Winning Sperm Party) so thought I'd post it as part of the lead up. If you dig, go check the Winning Sperm Party site out and stick around for her contribution to FUCKNO at the end of the month.

Blood of the Bull - Four Small Bodies.

Lofi recordings, mini-albums, seriously dark music. These are all things that have little place within the commercial distribution sphere, and coincidentally, they’re also three of the main characteristics of the Winning Sperm Party ‘net label / music blog‘s releases. In the past, we’ve been given Ultimate Thrush’s 16 minute, ten track album, Weenliz’ home-recorded, circuit-bending noise-core, and Plaaydoh. ‘Nuff Said.

Their latest release, Blood of the Bull’s “Four Small Bodies” is a raw and introspective lost highway into the mind of Divorce guitarist Hillary VanScoy. Basically, it’s everything you‘d expect not to sell; Slow-grinding, alt-rock headfucks combined with a dark lyrical bent, sludgy riffs and serial-killer atmospherics. For those who don’t know Divorce; Ten-tons-heavy NoWave punk, tight as fuck, lyrically brutal, signed to Optimo, lethal live. Blood of the Bull kicks off with Flick, a lofi grinder that combines super fuzzed guitars, vocals tenuously circling melody and a stooges-esque raw drum sound. Repeating this incessantly would get boring, but two more of the same sit comfortably and are potent enough to keep the listener interested.

It’s the final track, Be Mine, that really kicks in though; it’s slow-grinding, minor key, and as dark as it’s precursors. The off-time, spoken word vocals drag the listener in though, slowly recounting a partner waking up and describing his dream. It’s as deep or as meaningless as whatever you choose to invest in it, but the melody and drive make for compelling listening.

It’s not a world-shattering EP, but to contextualise the brutality of Divorce, or simply to give you something to trip to in the dark hours, Four Small Bodies’ well worth the bandwidth.