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Review: 'Great Russian Empire, THe'
'Low Ends'   


-  Genre: 'Rock' -  Release Date: '8th September 2017'

Our Rating:
According to the band’s bio, ‘the project is bred by the 1980’s new wave and early 1990’s alternative genre, by way of modern folk and various rock influences’. If that sounds like it might be a hard one to swallow, the twin-bass wielding band, pitched as being for fans of Faith No More, Joy Division, Russian Circles, Cop Shoot Cop

They go for the subtle, stealthy start: the first track, ‘Full of Blood’ is a deliberate, slow-burning six-and-a-half minuter which begins with a quiet, sedate and softly resonant bassline which is gradually joined by a baritone croon which has an almost country feel, rolling drums and some folksy violin – before it all goes a bit Neurosis around the midway point. There are so many contrasting segments that the end result is a shade lacking in cohesion.

The same is true of the quicker-paced ‘The Hands That Bring The Road Kill To The Side’: hybridity is not a cause for criticism in itself, but when you throw hard rock histrionics and Queens of the Stone Age in the blender with some violin worth that’s part post-rock, part The Corrs, it serves as a reminder that not all hybrids work, and some avenues are best left unexplored.

They make a fair fist of covering Cop Shoot Cop’s ‘If Tomorrow Ever Comes’, with its gritty grain and so they should with their two basses, and they step it up with the rambunctious ‘Blood Everywhere’ which has some hints of latter day Melvins about it. Final track ‘The Fence’ makes for a strong finish at least, a hefty grunge beast that comes on like Henry Blacker and finally finds TGRE making maximum use of their low-end weight.

  author: Christopher Nosnibor

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Great Russian Empire, THe - Low Ends