Review Summary: The Shape of Digital Hardcore to Come
Some of you may be familiar with the name JP Anderson. The man is ever present in the underground scene with his hardclash band
Rabbit Junk and various other side projects, including the folk metal of
Wolves Under Sail, the steampunk-inspired prog metal of
Fighting Ice With Iron and the industrial metal/digital hardcore menace of The Named. You may also recognise The Named as the result of legal wrangling between JP and his old bandmate, Brian Shrader, over the use of an old name – The Shizit, a band that never made it into the big leagues, but whose influence on the underground industrial/hardcore scene is still felt today. In 2001 the band released their sole full length and opus, Soundtrack for the Revolution (aka SoFTeR).
Opening with the urban digital beats and electronics, the album bursts into live with the opening track “Audio Jihad II” (a sequel to that found on early EP ‘Evil Inside’). The overall tone of the album doesn’t particularly change much but the politically charged lyrics of Anderson ring throughout, and the odd bit of synth playing splits up the barrage of guitar noise and breakbeat rhythms in all tracks, so you’re never given too much of one thing. Anderson screams, sings and raps all over the place, showing the vocal versatility he’ll later expand on in genre melding Rabbit Junk releases later in his career.
Songs such as “Cold Naked Protest” and title track “Soundtrack for the Revolution” somewhat restrain the aggression at times and allow for different aspects, such as more clean singing and even acoustic guitars to seep into the mix, while highlights such as “Spit AK” and “Point Click Kill” show the full on aggression of The Shizit. The duo don’t just rely on outward aggression though, with the more atmospheric side flourishing on instrumental track “I Walk Through Walls” and the first half of the declaration of war that is “Dear Government” – a track that remains relevant even 15 years on.
The main problem with this album lies in its production. As an underground act consisting of two young and angry musicians in a time before everyone had access to GarageBand and Pro Tools, the guitars remain extremely fuzzy in the mix and the electronic/breakbeat sections are really necessary to prevent the listener being completely overwhelmed by the sea of fuzz that the guitars create, and sometimes you can barely hear what notes are actually being played. This lack of high quality production also afflicts Anderson’s vocals at times, making it difficult to hear what is being said. For the resources they had, though, everything is still very coherent, and the delicate mix of heavy sections and electronic moments make sure the problems are rarely enough to take away from the music.
The Shizit, sadly, are no more and contractual disputes, as mentioned at the start of this review, mean that the extremely rare releases will likely never be officially released again. An attempted revival of The Shizit was halted before it could really begin, and as such the resulting album was released under JP Anderson’s new project banner
The Named, which carries on as spiritual successor to this digital hardcore great. A must listen if you can find it.
