After captivating and terrifying many in the music industry with a PR campaign involving cryptic emails from beyond the grave, disturbing paintings, and a Chinese restaurant, (it’s a long story), Hertfordshire based “death punk” band Polt Her Geist announced the release of a new EP earlier this year, and today that EP has arrived on 7” vinyl, in all it’s twisted glory.
The EP opens with the dissonant and wonderfully disorientating title track, which comes roaring out from the speakers and grabs the listener by the throat with Jack Watts’ blood-curdling screams and a riff that is abrasive and heavy enough to satisfy fans of the most extreme hardcore possible. The intensity only ramps up from there as ‘Give Me One Good Treason’ kicks off at rapid pace. the first half of the track consists of pure punk rock energy that builds up to a slow, and beautifully eerie climax.
The standout of the four tracks, ‘Please Tell David I Popped by to Say Hello’, manages to be the fastest and most savage part of the EP, but also the catchiest, with a chorus you can scream along to, in among a chaotic song that played with astounding energy and ferocity. The song also demonstrates the bands technical ability, especially in the drumming. The EP closes with the spine-chilling ‘Five Part Resurrection’, which consists solely of a brooding, heavily distorted bass line and harrowing screams.
The somewhat raw production of the EP by Steve Sears Jr (Gallows, Funeral Shakes) adds another level of heaviness to the already brutally abrasive songs.
Just under ten minutes in length, Haemorrhage is a fast, vicious attack on the senses that is not for the faint of heart. It is a listening experience that feels akin to receiving an exorcism, but in a fun way. By the end of the EP you might feel battered and bruised, but that, strangely, just adds to the enjoyment of it. Haemorrhage is the perfect album for fans of hardcore and extreme music and general.
