Band – Yatsu
Album – It Can’t Happen Here
Country of Origin – USA
Genre – Powerviolence/Grindcore/Noise
Release Date – November 3, 2023
Label – Roman Numeral Records (CD/Cassette)/The Ghost Is Clear (Vinyl)
Author – Hayduke X
Normally I write my own intro to our track premieres, and I will say that sitting in my school writing this on my lunch break, given the topic of gun violence in the lyrics of Appomattox, is uncomfortable to say the least. However, the band wrote their own blurb for the song that is so perfect, that I’ll quote it verbatim. You can jump below the track stream (after multiple listens, of course) to read my full review of the album, an instant essential on my 2023 list.
This song is one of the more straight-forward tracks on the record. Well, as “straight-forward” as we can be. The bulk of the track rides out a stomping, later-era Entombed groove, but eventually transitions into this Coalesce-esque bridge à la 0:12 Revolution in Just Listening. The sci-fi noise layers that swim just over the top of this section creates this seasick feeling that’s even more disorienting in a live context.
The lyrics of this song deal with gun fetishism, gun violence, and speaks about those who have a paranoid fear of a new civil war.
Once in a while, as a reviewer, something completely unknown to you, yet quite special, drops in your lap. The arrival of It Can’t Happen Here and the opportunity to premiere Appomattox is one of those moments. Lyrically, the album is a blistering condemnation of late stage capitalism (solidarity) and musically it’s a scathing powerviolence attack with elements of grind, death metal, groove, and noise filtered through a lens of pure, unadulterated rage. Listening to It Can’t Happen Here is an experience akin to pouring boiling acid on an open wound; caustic, painful, obliterating.
What about how I feel? What about my revolution? I’d rather break my finger, than push the button!
So screams vocalist JD Sweat on Civic Duties in a moment which encapsulates the attack of this band. Shine a light on the ugly in the world for all to see. Scream in rage at our modern horrors. Put it all over a soundtrack of the vilest, most chaotic bile which can be created by instruments. These tracks are not music. Their distilled emotion. The back end of the attack is handled by Josh Huddleston on drums and Imran Syed on bass. Syed also handles some of the vocal duties. The vicious sounds coming from the guitar are created by Lane Oliver in what might be called purposefully non-riffs. Or audio savagery. Last, but not least, Michael Briggs layers in noise and sound manipulation to add to the feeling of existential dread.
The title track and the one immediately after serve as a center point to the whole album. The press material states, of the phrase “it can’t happen here” used as a title for the central track and album, “speaks to the delusion of the United States as a whole being an impenetrable stronghold and could never decline.” The lyrics of this track are just the title phrase repeated over and over with increased speed and intensity. The effect, to me, is of someone deluding themselves about the realities of the nation in the hopes that it really can’t. Immediately following this is a track entitled Its Already Happening Here, which is a noise remix track done by Ben Chisholm of Chelsea Wolfe. Though there are no lyrics, the title alone is a clear response to the wishful thinking of the title track.
Blasting out of the DFW area in Texas, Yatsu (born as a band in 2019) already show that they’re not here to take prisoners. This album is revelatory, a clear denouncement of modern humanities choices, all to a chaotic hydra unmusical attack of venom and bile. Essential!
Album art is by Hell Simulation.
Biography: Hayduke X has been writing for MoshPitNation since June of 2016. He is also a contributor to The Metal Wanderlust. Prior to joining the MoshPitNation team, Hayduke published reviews on his own blog Rage and Frustration. In addition, he has DJ’ed an online metal radio show of the same name as his blog, written for TOmetal.com, done interviews for Metal Rules, and collaborated with The Art of B Productions to create video interviews with a wide variety of bands.
