Glasgow four-piece GNASHERS release their explosive debut album Karashnico
Looking for some music to help you relax? To have a nice chilled out evening? Well, Glasgow’s GNASHERS aren’t the band for you… However, if you’re looking to be repeatedly pummelled by high-energy, ear-splitting rock ‘n’ roll, you’ve come to the right place.
GNASHERS’ debut album ‘Karashnico‘ comes via Fighting Swans Records and it is 14 tracks of mostly short blasts of fast paced heavy alternative rock. After the quick, chaotic opening track ‘Wanaka’ the album begins proper with ‘Fortress,’ undoubtedly one of my favourites from this album. Like most of the tracks Fortress is fast and punchy but it has the sing along qualities that elevate the song from album track to single.
Track 3 ‘Robo Rogue’ continues a fine start to the album, its heavy guitar riff is massive and will have you head banging in no time at all. Title-track ‘Karashnico’ is similar in a way to Fortress, being a slightly more indie rock track. If I could play you just one song from this record to get you to listen to the whole album, it’d be a toss-up between those two songs.
5 of the 14 songs of Karashnico don’t reach the two-minute mark and of these 5 it’s the track that is stuck right in the middle of the album ‘Equinox’ that really shines for me. It’s a rare moment of respite that is perfectly placed and gives the album a little breathing space before launching back into the madness. The band described this one as ‘your first breather, outside the club with a cigarette on a frosty gig night in Glasgow.’ Honestly, they’ve got that one completely spot on.
For me the band saved the best three song run of the album for the very end. ‘Torrential Torrestrial’ has a mid-2000s indie vibe to it that will make you feel like flicking through an NME magazine to see who made the latest cool list. Penultimate track ‘Pyroclastic Moments’ is the longest song of the album at 3 minutes and 44 seconds, giving it a somewhat epic feel, a fairly slow track that builds to an mosh pit inducing ending. A short one to close us out ‘Chorenthiam’ is a just an absolutely lovely soft song, like Equinox, it is just perfectly placed in the context of the album. A great finish to a great album.