Siyahkal

Siyahkal

Corrupt

Static Shock

***After making us wait a decade for their first LP, SIYAHKAL hesitate none to deliver another blow to the head. A year later, another twelve inches. On “Corrupt,” their trademark gallop comes through clearer while no less mired in ear-piercing qualls of noise. Unrelenting in intensity for its 12-minute run time, “Corrupt” has a certain urgency to it—a frustration, a tension and release. If it slows, it’s only to recollect and come back blazing. At moments, the record harkens to the dissonance of LP-era Die Kreuzen. At others, it harnesses the hypnotism of the first Una Bestia Incontrolable LP. Here, Siyahkal uses rhythmic propulsion like a jackhammer to the skull. If there are prisoners being taken, it will not be them. Through all of it are KG’s gruff vocals, and lyrics that aim to capture the very moment that the greater “we” all find ourselves in—under the boot of States that neglect our very right to be free. Iran or America, the people in power are all the same. They see us all as fodder for war, to maintain their power. And with ‘Corrupt,’ this injustice is not just written into word, but screamed into song.

Siyahkal

Days of Smoke and Ash

Static Shock

***"Finally, SIYAHKAL delivers unto us their complete vision. Days of Smoke and Ash, is the first full length from a band that has been dominating shows in Toronto for the better part of the past decade. The city's best kept secret. And what better a release to formally announce the relocation of the Static Shock Head Honcho, than the excavation of the city's most overdue LP?From the opening notes of 'Your Head In My Arms,' SIYAHKAL unleashes absolute, stomping psychedelic hardcore perversion. Self-recorded, the thing sounds like a demon unleashed. Squalls of noise are smeared across a record of near-meditative, throbbing HC. It's an unrelenting, brutal album that would see any sane person running for the exits.While the music itself is precise, intentional and pounding, the vocal delivery and its lyrical subject matter provide a deeper meaning. This isn't just a record to crack skulls to, it's an album loaded with political subtext. How does an artist reconcile their own exile? How do they engage with the caricatures that western psychosocial dominance makes of their beautiful home? When their own survival is at stake, what is the true meaning of justice? SIYAHKAL manages to produce something indebted as much to the likes of Destino Final or Mobs, as it is the Persian culture KG bleeds into it.And the sentiments expressed here are not just Iranian, or Venezuelan, or Palestinian. SIYAHKAL's Days of Smoke and Ash reflects the reality of the world as this era comes undone. They've manifested something universal...