ALBUM REVIEW: Creation And The Timeless Order Of Things – Racetraitor
There is perhaps no band that has ever embraced the idea that hardcore is meant to stand for something more than Chicago’s RACETRAITOR. Formed in 1996 with a name that invited notoriety before they’d even played a note, the vegan straight edge outfit were confrontational by design, their shows often ending in arguments and even physical altercations over their uncompromising anti-racist and anti-colonialist advocacy. Perhaps unsurprisingly, their initial run was short-lived, albeit long enough for them to release their classic 1998 full-length Burn The Idol Of The White Messiah, but various political developments in and around 2016 galvanised the band’s return. They’ve released one album and a few other bits since then, and now they present what vocalist Mani Mostofi has suggested is likely to be their final full-length in Creation And The Timeless Order Of Things.
If such a suggestion proves true, then RACETRAITOR are to go out just as they came in, “fighting for liberation from the oppressive systems that destroy humanity and the earth.” Creation And The Timeless Order Of Things tells 13 stories of struggle and oppression and injustice – and indeed of the valiant efforts of those seeking to overcome them – all through a truly global lens as the band seek to create a “geographic autobiography” of the things they’ve seen and the places and people that have shaped and inspired them. Among them are stories of Afghan, Iranian and Syrian refugees in Turkey, of genocide in Guatemala, of Maori women combatting domestic violence in New Zealand and of migrant workers facing exploitation in Bahrain – all told with care and nuance in a way that can be as poetic as it can unflinchingly blunt.
Cave Of The Patriarchs for example speaks of the city of Hebron in Palestine – a place that Mostofi has visited himself – but if its details of sniper towers and checkpoints and settlers and shooters are somewhat expected, it’s the line “Normal is our sanctuary” that hits hardest – perhaps even on the entire record in light of all that is unfolding in the country at this very moment. It speaks to the fact that Palestinians crave normality and joy – as indeed we all do – even as they face such unspeakable atrocities and adversity. Another hard-hitter is Land Acknowledgment – this one particularly memorable as Mostofi bellows “You slept so long you forgot my face” over something mournful and melodic in a track that pays tribute to the indigenous inhabitants of the band’s home state of Chicago and Lake Michigan shore to its north.
As ever, the canvas for all this is one of diverse yet invariably visceral metallic hardcore. RACETRAITOR draw heavily from extreme metal as they have done in the past, with many tracks taking on quite blackened tendencies in their blast beats and tremolo-picking, and indeed the generally menacing atmosphere that hangs over pretty much all of them. Others, like Red River, Santa Apolonia and Sword, border on grindcore – all short and blasty and bludgeoning and driven relentlessly by drummer Andy Hurley (who you may recognise from a little band called FALL OUT BOY). Mostofi meanwhile is often the album’s focal point, his performance mesmerically intense and tortured as he sets a standard matched by like-minded guests such as Dennis Lyxzén of REFUSED, Ruben L. Garza Jr of THROUGH N THROUGH and Stan Liszewski of TERMINAL NATION, to name just a few.
It’s an impressive list of collaborators, but Creation is elevated further still by some of the less obvious matches to RACETRAITOR’s sound. On opener Eid, for example, Fared Shafinury contributes cello, Persian setar and Persian avaz not only to provide greater dynamic ebb and flow but also to make the track’s reflections on the 1979 Iranian Revolution feel that much more evocative of the time and place it speaks of. Later, Cape Rerenga – the one about Maori women – leans heavily on the haunting ethereal vocals of Carrie Gerardi placed over lumbering drums and shimmers of guitar to provide an arresting moment of semi-respite right between the 70-second volleys of Subordinate Terror and the aforementioned Sword just as the album comes into the home straight.
Of course, RACETRAITOR’s music may have always felt somewhat secondary to their ideas and this remains true of Creation And The Timeless Order Of Things, but it is worth emphasising that they do bring it on all fronts. They have a lot to say, but they also have found an incredibly compelling way of saying it and they cover enough ground sonically to match that which they explore thematically. It means that the album’s 32-minute runtime ends up feeling longer than it is, but not in a bad way, just in that it pulls you in so powerfully and has so much to unpack on so many levels that it becomes one of those special records you can get lost in time and time again. If this is to be their swansong, then it really is a fitting one.
Rating: 8/10
Creation And The Timeless Order Of Things is set for release on November 17th via Good Fight Music.
Like RACETRAITOR on Facebook.