- Hardcore or metal? Metal or hardcore? Hardcore and metal? Metal then hardcore? It’s kind of astonishing how long these questions have been asked in the world of heavy music, usually with great venom, the two contenders locked in a death spiral, all the way down.
High Tension’s answer to the question, their foundational blueprint, actually seemed liked a pretty good one. An unholy matrimony of oldschool hardcore and balls to the wall hard rock. Bringing together the stylings of Madball and Motörhead, pouring hardcore into a tight, black pair of leather rocker’s pants and letting a little bit of thrash leak out over the top was a banging idea, at least the way High Tension did it. Still, the band themselves never really seemed satisfied. By the time they reached their first full-length, Death Beat, they didn’t even seem like they could come up with enough decent material to fill the thing.
Not to be defeated, High Tension changed direction and on 2015’s Bully tried out a bunch of different things. Sometimes startlingly diverse, like that brief dalliance with indie rock, more often they opted for slow, heavy and grinding post-hardcore, which had a bit in common with Shellac. Bully was a good record: different, refreshing and convincing. I don’t think anyone would have faulted High Tension if they wanted to give that formula another whirl. Come 2018 however and the only constant for the band is change.
Purge then is an appropriate title: out with the old, in with the new. Although what it actually refers to, in keeping with High Tension’s socially conscious stance, is the wholesale slaughter of Indonesisa’s first, democratically elected, government and its leader President Sukarno and its supporters, in 1967. Actually it’s worth taking a moment away from the music to explain this. The coup was led by Muhammad Suharto and supported by the west. It was the equal to the bloodiest uprisings in South East Asia and justice has never been done, the perpetrators remaining free and without fear of reciprocity, to this day. Although it’s not a secret, it isn’t a bit of history that is widely remembered, to the point where High Tension frontwoman Karen Utomo, although she grew up in Indonesia, didn’t even hear about it till quite recently.
Political concept albums are about as dangerous territory as you could hope to negotiate in popular music. In High Tension’s hands, however, it feels like just the right kind of dangerous. Karen’s rage is the centrepoint for the kind of focus I haven’t heard from the band before. The world today is full of infantile idiots voting for racists and moaning on the internet. I think I may have forgotten just how righteous rage can be.
What musical vehicle have High Tension chosen as the instrument of their rage? What other: metal. Using their old sonic trademarks as a jumping-off point, High Tension dive into a record that is fast, groovy, thrashy and rhythmically complex. You may well put a lot of the new direction down to the equally new rhythm section in guitarist Mike Deslandes and drummer Lauren Hammel. Whatever it is, it works! Purge is both immediately engaging and a stayer. I’ve always had quite a bit of time for High Tension, but right now I’m happy to give ‘em all the time I’ve got. Oh and in lieu of unexpected indie-rock, this time we get the quiet horror of the neo-folk influenced Surrender; eat your heart out Chelsea Wolfe.
Purge is a great record and braver than most political statements that bands make. Indonesia is a big destination for metal bands where the fandom for all things heavy is enormous. Even President Joko Widodo is on record saying he’s a dyed-in-the-wool Napalm Death fan, which, well, make of that what you will. Although the authorities in Indonesia are not very media-savvy, penning a record calling out your hometown’s recent history of genocide is still a pretty bold move. You know what? It just makes me all the more impressed at both High Tension and Purge. They’ve brought the boot crashing down to settle the question of hardcore vs. metal. Forget about it, it's time to address some more important questions.
- Chris Cobcroft.