review: Rig Time!

[review by MMB]

Rig Time!

War

Innerstrength Records

release: 20 October 2017

These cheeseheads are the personification of that American anger and profanity fueled by hardcore and sludge, by the angry-person-shouting vocals and overall loud-personality energy and by the simplified, minimalistic, thick heaviness of sludge. It's possible that they are heavier than most people's ideas of hardcore, and way faster than what people understand as sludge, but that's exactly what this Packerland band does. If you are favorable towards simple-and-loud rock, in that prototypical American angry way, you might get hooked on the band's way of making a point. For your information, this is not a band that has singing or melodic vocals as a part of their style and they do not do guitar solos or anything super fancy like that. This is meat(tofu?)-and-potatoes, burgers-fries-and-beer basic, loud rock, maybe for fans of the Hatebreed-Crowbar combination, or similar sounds. They say that they are a touring band, so, America, this potty-mouth sludgecore sound might be coming to a bar near you.

OFFICIAL: La Crosse, WI bruisers RIG TIME! will release sophomore album War on October 20 via Innerstrength Records. Following full-length Sick of It (2016) and two EP’s (2014’s Awful and 2015’s Devout), all of which were self-released, the band’s forthcoming debut for Innerstrength is best described in the band’s own words: “HEAVY.” Featuring a sound that is the audio equivalent of a tank column entering a besieged city, the crunch and clangor of War is a game-changer. Forged in the fires of hardcore, sludge, and powerviolence, War epitomizes RIG TIME!’s scorched-earth tactics and demonstrates the natural chemistry of husband/wife team Bryan W. and Rebecca Fleming (vocals/drums and guitar, respectively), and Mark Trueman (bass/vocals). War was recorded/mixed by Pete Grossman at Bricktop Recording in Chicago, IL (WEEKEND NACHOS, HARMS WAY, etc). The album was mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege in Portland, OR.

innerstrengthrecords.bandcamp.com/album/rig-time-war

facebook.com/RIGTIME/