Put yourself in your car or bike, forget about your destination for 11 minutes and 8 seconds, and listen to Slow Fire Pistol’s new EP, Moment of Clarity. You will soon be thrown into a thoughtful trance by the Atlanta quartet’s brand of earth-shattering hardcore. Consisting of current and former members of Foundation, Dead in the Dirt, Criminal Instinct, PDC, and I’m sure many others, Slow Fire Pistol has deep ties to the scene, but this band takes a much different route than any of their previous projects.
As a title, Moment of Clarity is an appropriate descriptor for how this EP sonically translates — aggressive guitars pulse in and out like a flickering lightbulb in the attic, spastic drums explode and fall apart as they come together, and haunting vocals moan, scratch, and wail with feral passion. The process of suddenly understanding a greater truth and having to fathom a new sensation is captured with climactic and moody riffs that sway up and down the emotive scale.
Common to each of the EP’s tracks is the group’s expert use of pacing and space. In both “Manipulation 101” and “Below the Bottom,” a majority of the parts are very dense, bursting with tension-filled drums that blend with the rest of the band’s chaotic clamor to create a distinct sense of unease. But each of the cuts eventually segues into an introspective outro where isolated vocals take the spotlight or somber, pensive guitars croon alongside a soft beat, shifting the entire mood of the song. Meanwhile, closer “6 Month Waiting Game” opens with a recording of Billie Holiday’s classic jazz standard “You Go to My Head” before erupting into a frenzy of harsh vocals, chaotic drumming, and punishing hardcore riffs.
Tying together gritty noise and intimate lyrics, Moment of Clarity appeals to the often calloused nature of humans. Whether it’s the anguished appeals to “please come home!” on “6 Month Waiting Game” or its recurring themes of power and self-determination, the record implores the listener to explore the nature of human reactions to negative scenarios. By maintaining a disposition of anxiety and aggression, coupled with a determination to pursue understanding, the EP shows that it was conceived with a cohesiveness that ties each song into the next, making the album something you can enjoy from beginning to end.
Slow Fire Pistol will perform on Friday, December 16 at the Drunken Unicorn in support of Yautja and Knife Hits. Doors open at 9 p.m. Admission is $10. All ages.
More Info
Bandcamp: slowfirepistol.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @slowfirepistol