The Antikaroshi-Per/son/alien

Exile On Mainstream 2011

It's hard to find any real information about The Antikaroshi online. From what I understand they had another release before this ("Crushed Neocons"), hail from Germany and are inspired by post-punk and the DC punk/hardcore scene of the early 80s. A three piece band The Antikaroshi are slightly different from the usual bands we review here at Heavy Metal Time Machine. Musically this is free form space/noise/rock with only a small hint of their punk/hardcore upbringing sprinkled throughout. For whatever reason they remind me of Fugazi or maybe Phish although they really don't sound like either. It has something to do with the open air jam aspect of it all. It's abstract without sounding too far out there. It's certainly post-punk in nature but sounds more fresh and modern. I think the soft touches of electronic noise and samplers help. Whatever it is Per/son/alien has a cool intellectual vibe going on. Fans of Fugazi, The Minutemen or The Meat Puppets should appreciate what these guys are going for. I enjoyed this as it's a throw back to what made post-hardcore and post-rock appealing. Taking the norm and turning it into a different creature all together. Extremely complex and compelling Per/son/alien swirls all the pieces off a puzzle around the room in a musical tornado. It destroys everything in it's path before perfectly putting all the puzzle pieces into their rightful place.