{"id":21779,"date":"2014-08-15T00:00:11","date_gmt":"2014-08-15T00:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=21779"},"modified":"2014-09-30T15:15:21","modified_gmt":"2014-09-30T15:15:21","slug":"ep-review-studfaust-where-the-underdogs-bark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/ep-review-studfaust-where-the-underdogs-bark\/","title":{"rendered":"STUDFAUST – Where The Underdogs Bark EP (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

STUDFAUST
Where The Underdogs Bark EP<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nSoulseller (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 6\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Norwegian duo Studfaust provide a conniving fist to the mid-section with their devilish, rust-bucket of a debut EP. <\/p>\n

Born in Oslo during 2011, messrs Tore Bratseth and Faust (known to you guys as B\u00e5rd Faust from Emperor) are possibly the last word in clanking, dishevelled, leather-clad metal. As if the soiled sounds of Mot\u00f6rhead, Darkthrone<\/a>, Tank et al aren\u2019t enough, this duo \u2013 now aided by one Pete Evil \u2013 comes fully armoured like some once merciless tank brought out of retirement for one last rampage across the ashen wastes. Loose, raw, and primitive by design, Where The Underdogs Bark<\/em> is a predictable yet wretchedly joyous racket of drunken wildness channelled via Bratseth\u2019s typically oily rasp and Mr Evil\u2019s rumbling bass which\u2019ll leave oil slicks all over the carpet.<\/p>\n

Studfaust offer up seven punchy tracks which are more a case of breakin\u2019 chains rather than breakin\u2019 boundaries. \u2018Half Human, Half Dynamite\u2019, the title track, \u2018Hell Is Full\u2019 et al, are all delivered like a rusty old steam train homing in on a brick wall, and you just know the result is going to be messy. It\u2019s straight up thunder metal with a few sizzling solos amidst the murk, but it\u2019s nothing you haven\u2019t heard before as Bratseth rants in barking mad fashion. The climax is a punked up frenzy known as \u20181980\u2019s Ladies\u2019, which was released two years previously as a single. Again, it\u2019s that typically raucous, rusty melody that the album has offered throughout. <\/p>\n

Mind you, \u20181980\u2019s Ladies\u2019 is probably the least threatening of all the tracks and actually makes a nice change from what soon becomes a repetitive array of noise which after a short while seems to melt into one long drunken brawl that carries on late into the night, even though the album only last 20 minutes. Where The Underdogs Bark<\/em> doesn\u2019t do exactly what it says on the tin, because it is the bloody tin \u2013 all mangled and oxidized from being beaten around by that sordid guitar sound and then eventually chewed up and spat out by Bratseth. <\/p>\n

It appears that once again the metal scene is being a tad tired, crammed pack full of same-sounding bands that either seem intent to ape the 80s thrash scene, or opt for straight up revival metal. At times Studfaust occupy a murky middle-ground between both, but it\u2019s a void already full I\u2019m afraid. For a few minutes of boozy mayhem Studfaust may just hit the spot, but as a long term commitment albums like this will just fizzle in the light like a vampire succumbing to the sun\u2019s rays. <\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STUDFAUSTWhere The Underdogs Bark EP Soulseller (2014)Rating: 6\/10 Norwegian duo Studfaust provide a conniving fist to the mid-section with their devilish, rust-bucket of a debut EP. Born in Oslo during 2011, messrs Tore Bratseth and Faust (known to you guys as B\u00e5rd Faust from Emperor) are possibly the last word in clanking, dishevelled, leather-clad metal. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1441],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-studfaust"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21779"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21785,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21779\/revisions\/21785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}