EP REVIEW: Things I Want – Poison The Preacher
Colombia’s POISON THE PREACHER have been on something of a tear recently. Their debut album picked up a few glowing reviews last year, including one on this very site, and now hot on its heels comes a brand new EP. And without meaning to spoil the ending, if you enjoyed Vs The World, you’ll like this one too. These four songs feature the same mix of hyper-violent crossover hardcore with a few distinct Latin American flourishes, and it’s a brief, but energising listen.
Crucially, doesn’t feel like a selection of album off-cuts. Things I Want isn’t a hastily knocked together cash-in and instead captures the sound of a band with serious momentum behind them and who can’t wait to release new music. The opening title track is a dive-inducing blast of adrenaline, and while it is perhaps marginally too long, it’s a deliriously enthusiastic shot of raw metallic fury. There’s a brief guitar solo, some borderline death metal vocals, a big mosh call, and even a cameo from SPEED to sink your teeth into.
POISON THE PREACHER’s real strengths come to the fore on the next couple of tracks though. Last Time I’ve Seen The Sun and Ran Out Of Options are similarly hectic, but the influences of their home country’s cultural identity are more blatant. They are several nods to traditional Colombian music and while they are quickly drowned out by gang chants and DRI riffs, they’re enough to give POISON THE PREACHER a unique flavour. Like the aforementioned SPEED, they’ve managed to adhere to the guidelines of metallic hardcore and simultaneously inject a healthy number of extras.
The closing Chicken Out is more of a straight-up rager, but the sheer enthusiasm carries it and the EP ends in the best way possible: leaving you wanting more. Things I Want barely reaches the sixteen mark, but it’s left us excited about the next full length. Whether you interpret it as an epilogue to their first album or an appetiser for the second, Things I Want is a lot of testosterone-addled fun.
These guys do hardcore for metalheads that won’t alienate their contemporaries and could be a big deal by this time in 2027. Keep an eye on POISON THE PREACHER; we have a strong suspicion they’ll be cropping up in some serious support slots throughout the coming twelve months. And yes, there is an “arf arf” on the EP. How did you know?
Rating: 8/10
Things I Want is out now via Seek And Strike.
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