Relenting only for the occasional drum fill, the drums are all hi-hat/crash trash. Guitar chords are cranked through what sounds like a cheese grater on top of a Marshall Stack (lol wut?). The bass is that classic pick-pounded 80s thrash following the guitar around like a rabid puppy. But the vocals--man, the vocals. It's the thing that makes Unnatural Helpers so instantly satisfying. Not in a nostalgic way that some modern punk-garage treads garbage in, riff-recycling and attitude assembling, but in the sense that you still love hearing so-sweet kiss-offs hollered (not screamed) atop a loud-fast band that doesn't sound heavy, but impossibly, irrepressibly scrappy--hell, almost skinny. Like the smallest-smartest kid in gym class out benching every jock fuck before kicking the teacher in the balls and storming out triumphantly to go read Origin of the Species. Or something like that.
And we stand back, totally impressed. We, the lucky attendees of Total Fest XI of course, where Unnatural Helpers are gracing us with their presence this year. They even have a new album coming out this fall on Hardly Art appropriately titled "Land Grab," because--as previously addressed--their music has a kind of rock-conquerer feel to it, invading a continent of hungry ear-drums and freeing them from the tyranny of bad rock writing (my sincerest apologies). I'll let the pros handle this kind of damage.
Go here to listen to a track off their new album, or look below to watch an in-studio from KEXP.
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