Review Summary: "Born. Tried to avoid discomfort. Still trying. All these stories end the same."
The choice for such an unusual album cover was by no means accidental. However harsh and abrasive their music can get at times, and however menacing the tagline "You are Fucked." may sound to some, there is always a strong stream of beauty and purity barely keeping itself from overflowing throughout the record. Judging from their song titles and band name,
Fuck Knowledge and Learning hide it very well on paper, but the very first songs on
KVRSTLNACHT betray them. 'Cocoon' not so much: opening with palm-muted chords that quickly turn into a furious riff fest, the song is an adequate demonstrator of the album's ridiculously lo-fi nature.
KVRSTLNACHT is a nasty basement record: the riffs, barely audible on their own, are overpowered by deafening, yet competent and driving drumming. The vocals, not aided by microphone, are buried completely; inhuman shrieks that put the vocalist of Jeromes Dream to shame. The ridiculously powerviolent 'Elloquent' pushes things even further, with rapid blast beats tearing down whatever the pummeling 'Ubiquitous' left untouched. It is 'Sore' where Fuck Knowledge and Learning reveal their true nature: the shrieks suddenly appear a lot more vulnerable as the riffs get noticeably slower and injected with a strong dose of melody. Topping this all off with more aggressive riffing won't change the simple fact that
KVRSTLNACHT is the sound of a band playing from the heart; young, passionate and honest. From then on the songs are a wonderfully mixed bag: 'Writhing' sees the vocalist pouring out his heart amidst the ongoing chaos while the melodic 'Tarnished' resonates with every drum beat. The closing Cattle confirms what becomes apparent through
KVRSTLNACHT's brief, 12-minute runtime: music's truly where the heart is.
