Bouncing around for not less than a few years, Brummie math rockers Shapes have returned with full length ‘Monotony Chic’;
Born and bred with Meet Me In Louis, Blakfish and Tubelord, Shapes always seemed a little the bridesmade and never the bride when it came to scene adulation, but with any justice ‘Monotony Chic’ has the power to change that, and the Big Scary Monsters does them absolutely no harm at all either.
With Eskil Lovstrom, the producer behind Refused‘s seminal progressive hardcore record ‘The Shape Of Punk To Come’, behind the desk, the band have been given space to breathe and build on their two ‘proper’ EP’s to date, and the result is a temperamental and aggressive forty minutes of mathy hardcore that practically stomps its feet for attention throughout.
Though ‘Monotony Chic’ at first feels a little like it’s going to come undone by being a little too jumpy, it’s more than worth a few listens and songs like ‘The Victim‘ and ‘Vacancy Ape’ show a towering mastery of the genre from the band.
There’s really little to dislike about the way that Shapes go about things, and refreshing to get punch in the face after punch in the face on a record that begs you see the band live.