- NASHO's debut LP kicks off with a snare roll, at once menacing and militant, before exploding into well-measured chaos. NASHO came together in 2017 as relative strangers to one another. The four members ' previous experience makes, collectively, an extremely impressive musical resume, coming from groups as varied as Royal Headache, BB & the Blips and DISPOSSESSED. Vocalist Serwah has carried over some of the rage from her other group DISPOSSESSED, channelling an exorcistic collection of harsh, confessional songs drawn from her own painful and traumatic experiences at the hands of the colony and the society that has built itself on the ashes, all howled and roared through a distinctive, cavernous echo. Each of the songs have their own flavours and strengths, despite the album being a nightmarish punk score, on the whole, there's a lick of ska-punk here, some black metal there, all complemented by some seriously rough production.
As the tracklist progresses, the band lurches between vicious thrash mayhem and ghoulish dub-punk grooves, destructive amounts of distortion on riffs that sound like they are being punched out of the guitars. The bass is played with a sense of urgency, at once demanding, commanding, and sharp as a knife, never getting lost in the commotion and holding down the slower jams. The drums are being torn apart on this LP, smashing out hardcore beats, each fill containing some surprising flourishes. It powers the sense of rage being unleashed, or barely contained in tracks like COLONIAL SIMULATION and FTP.
This entire album is extremely pissed off and rightly so. Another cracking release from NO PATIENCE records and a powerful debut for a new band focused on setting the cultural record straight. “WHAT’S YOUR NASHO?” isn’t the question to be asking, so next please.
- Clayton Bick-Paterson.