This band is seriously called Gape Attack? Yuck.

Aside from the obvious reasons one should never name his/her band something sexual is that no one wants to see the Google results. At any rate, this 7” is pretty well in the realm of Goth-punk. One might dub this as “party Goth” and I think I will. You could Pogo to this as well as mope in your room at twilight. I guess it would depend on what’s going on that night. You might mope on the dance floor for all I know.

I’m pretty sure all the drums are electronic. Beat machine-style. The whole record buzzes with distortion and some added static has been thrown in to really bury a lot of the sounds. The instrumentation is held under a mesh of fuzz. Guitars are driving with a lot of power chord riff-age in which the bass falls right in step. There really isn’t much syncopation happening between any of the instruments, just straightforward rocking with some light soloing on the guitar. Licks, you might say.

The vocals don’t stray from the S.R. wet hair domain, which is to say, distortion + lots of reverb + mumbled wails = the way this guy sounds. There are some synthesizers being used all over as well. They take the duty of withstanding arpeggiation of twinkly hard attack higher register sounds and washy FM synth sounds. The keys are also subjected to more distortion, whether the sounds are as mentioned or organ sounds. Overall, the record is quite bass-mid range heavy with the distortion occupying most of the top end.

My copy is on clear vinyl with a blank black label. I’m willing to bet all of the copies are on clear, but don’t hold me to it. I wish there was some indication of “A” side vs. “B” side other than the manufacturers’ etching beyond the lock groove. Either way, it’s cool. I’m not completely blind yet. The cover art is a collaged black and white photo of two 60’s-ish models. The two photos have been pieced together to form concentric circles radiating from the center where in each circle the photos alternate to create a disjointed face. The craft on the collage is definitely “hand-made” which allows for white space (empty space) to make the concentric circle design “pop.” It’s sort of “Polly Magoo,” which makes sense, as it’s a James Nascent piece – he’s a Brit, and his poster art is really graphic with lots of black and white play.

This is pretty dedicated to the post-punky Goth sound. It’s a solid release for sure. It’s got a bit of Joy Division to it, but not to the point where you’d rather listen to the real thing. Let’s say it has it’s own thing going on without forgetting to cater to the genre. 6/10 -- John Collins McCormick (28 July, 2010)