ALBUM REVIEW: Welcome To Cuddle Country, Pardner! – Negative Øhio
NEGATIVE ØHIO. Where do you begin with NEGATIVE ØHIO? A band that flaunts a blatant disregard for the rules, if fact it’s unclear if they ever knew there were rules to start with. Blending freeform avant-garde metal and digital hardcore, they embody chaotic energy in every way imaginable. Welcome To Cuddle Country, Pardner! is the band’s third record, and it’s a whopping double album.
Imagine if FRANKLIN MINT and CLOWNCORE decided to learn reed instruments and incorporate some in making a noisecore record. This is essentially what you get with NEGATIVE ØHIO. There’s some fun to be had with the deceptively chipper album name; Welcome To Cuddle Country, Pardner! is something someone with a warped sense of humour would enjoy.
If we try and be critical and observant, there are elements of black metal in songs like Search History Repeats Itself that some will lean towards, its harsh and abrasive style intentionally subverting expectations with psychedelic elements. However, if we’re being plain and simple there are moments, (and by moments, we mean huge chunks), that are indefinable on this record as the band smash various ideas into a blender and scream in harmony with the din they emulsify together.
I Think, Therefore I Am Right initially feels from another dimension from the tracks surrounding it; it starts out choral and clipped together with disjointed soundbites before dissenting into chaotic madness. In a similar vein, A Firefly Is The Opposite Of A Waterfall does start as a lush, genuine piece of music that gradually distorts and descends into a plane of coarse static. You have to give props for the titling of these songs, My Life Was Flashing Before My Eyes, And It Could Really Use Some Editing And A Better Soundtrack, and What’s The Ocean Doing In The Sky, both of which are just as horrific and incoherent, but do have a blast being utterly chaotic and awful.
Some songs give nothing away, but others, like The Horrible Voice Witch, are exactly what you think they are. Exactly. It’s all a horrific, violent dissent that NEGATIVE ØHIO absolutely revel in. One of the best songs, if you can call it that, is It’s A Shame A Family Can Be Torn Apart By Something As Simple As A Pack Of Wild Dogs. Bizarre jazz wailing reeds, blast beats, whining guitars, guttural vocals and childish, disconcerting wails make for a completely maddening experience. It’s actually pretty great. Likewise, The Meat Was Not Entertaining At All, despite what the title would have you believe, is a pretty hilarious mockery of the classic show tune, The Entertainer. You’ll know it when you hear it, and you’ll love this would-be cover.
The thing with NEGATIVE ØHIO is they seem to love excess. Everything has to be turned up past the point of taste and sense; it’s as obscene and obtuse as a band can get. A 13-track album of this level of unhinged would be a tall order. Doing it twice, and sticking them back-to-back is utter madness. Kudos for the sheer will of making a record this bonkers and this huge. If it’s your thing, you’ll have a great time annoying everyone around you with Welcome To Cuddle Country, Pardner!. Otherwise, it might be best to give this a miss.
Rating: 4/10
Welcome To Cuddle Country, Pardner! is out now via self-release.
Like NEGATIVE ØHIO on Facebook.