Describing Thurneman as a “hardcore” band is about as inadequate as calling gumbo a “soup.” All the usual ingredients are there—frenetic beats, flailing chords, angry vocals, and heaps of aggression—and they make it quite clear they can fuck shit up with the best of ‘em, but what they do with all the above within the confines of the forty-three ADD-length tracks here (the disc’s opus, “U.Ä.R,” clocks in at an epic two minutes and thirty seconds) is what gives the meal its sabor. Just when you think you’ve got ‘em pegged, the often guitars veer off into single-note, ringing leads, or they start off on an oddly melodic churning and grinding tangent, the bass lines start loping, and you suddenly realize you’re in some tastier territory than you’d initially bargained on, something that vacillates between the gritty Midwestern and the melodic wings of the hardcore genre. This does serve as a (more or less) discography for the band, featuring tracks from a full-length, assorted EPs, and some comp tracks, so you get the one-stop convenience of picking up some great tunes from one of the more interesting hardcore bands that have come along in recent years, and serious value for your buck. Recommended.
–jimmy (Gaphals, gaphals.se)