Review Summary: From the band with the best name in the world.
Look at that title for a moment… just look at it. Isn’t that the best name for a band you’ve ever seen? The answer is yes, even if you’re not willing to admit it. Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt have been around for a few years now and since gracing the underground music scene with their distinct, unique brand of hardcore, power-violence, punk, grind, jazz, scat, progressive, metal… the list will go on forever – just like this Sydney (Australian) based group. God bless Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt.
Accord/Dance is but my second dosing of these Sydney based multi-genred group (having missed the debut completely back 2011, I’ve since fixed that) and after experiencing first hand the amalgamation of sound that is ‘Dys/Closure’ I fell in love with this nontraditional approach to sonic art. Wind the clock forwards and it’s pretty clear that these guys haven’t slowed down, but as it stands,
Accord/Dance is the group’s most “traditional” sounding record to date. Five tracks clocking in at twelve minutes sees a huge amount of playback potential, as each listen brings new elements to life. Personally I’m not sure if these guys are deliberately hiding features under their abstract sound profiles, but I couldn’t care less. The discovery of each component brings a raw life out of this record. Gone are the 30 second tracks, being replaced with two to four minute songs. In are the traditional song passages and frenetic tempo changes. It’s expressive from its inception to the “Afterthought” finale.
There is so much life to be found in this twelve minute display of expression, namely it’s the production that draws it all together. Far from polished, the raw recording of
Accord/Dance maintains an air of the underground itself. Don’t get me wrong, the riffs come through fuzzy, the vocals clear and the drums are honest. There’s no million dollar production sucking the life from the very bones the flesh sits on.
The album’s overall brevity is both a shortcoming and a benefit for the listener. I know for a fact that this sort of music is going to rub some people the wrong way (seriously, what’s wrong with you?) but there will be those who would like another thirty minutes of run-time added to a record like this, me included. Basically it comes down to your own musical preferences and as much as that’s a cop-out on my part it rings true to the core of Fat Guy Wears Mystic Wolf Shirt’s music. Overall this is a slab of music that shouldn’t be ignored. Let’s face it, it’s only twelve minutes. We could all be doing a lot worse.
