Blast Worship: Trauma Bond – Decibel Magazine

Where they from?
London, England. I went to London once, way back in 2019 for thee yearly Chimpy Fest, which is comparable to Maryland Deathhfest, except instead of throwing trash cans they “toss bins of rubbish.” I remember going to see Big Ben and it was under construction and had scaffolding all over it. It’s all good though, I got a good cry in during the WWI exhibit at the Imperial War Museum.

Why the hype?
This band caught my attention because their name seemed to indicate that they might have read a social psychology book or two but then the music really sinked it’s hooks into me and I knew I absolutely had tto write about this group. The three primary influences I hear are Fawn Limbs, Youth Code and Prodigy. The Fawn Limbs influence is mainly heard in the grindier songs that alternate between vicious programmed drums blast beats and off-kilter Meshuggah style djent breakdowns, whereas the Youth Code stuff is all in the window-dressing around the music, eerie and hauntingly modern industrial soundscapes. But where the Prodigy stuff comes in is in Eloise Chong-Garrette’s wretched rasp, at both authoritative, pissed and yet intoxicating.

Latest Release?
Winter’s Light, self-released. So the absolute standout to me here is “Basking,” which, to be quite honest, sounds like one of those slow deathcore anthems Decibel used to love poo-pooing about 15 years ago. I just wanna say it is absolutely possible to love blast beats but then, once in a while, make space in your heart for a nice two-minute long dirge based around an open power chord. LOVE IS LOVE, GOD DAMMIT!