Review Summary: Buzzing with gloom.
Like it or not, grunge is mostly an American phenomenon. While simple to play, there is just something about living in a big impersonal country while still having enough money to buy instruments to play rock music with. There is also the whole angle about this genre being an American marketing ploy to sell underground rock to trend-hoppers, but that's a discussion for another day.
Sometimes good things come from unlikely places. To be more exact, Scumbucket are a grunge band from Germany that has apparently been operational since 1996. And when I say they play grunge, I don't mean clockwork-precise distorted rock with post-punk influence that most European bands seem to favor. No stones into that garden, but I was completely unprepared for the wall of sound that Heliophobe's oddly named opener "Dis My Naff (Part I)" hit me with. It's that characteristical guitar sloppiness with the fuzz turned all the way up, accompanied by a cascading snare, that pulls you in on the first listen. The vocals that join in shortly afterwards - first shouted maniacally, then more calm - are just audible enough to be a part of the song, more as another instrument than to convey a message. Scumbucket make it perfectly clear that they are here to bring you distortion and rhythm first and everything else second.
They are not a Big 4-type band either. The overall feeling of the songs reminds me more of early Failure - melancholic, noisy and with melody delegated mainly to the vocals department. For instance, "Drag" forces its way into the listener's brain with a hammering riff, while Kurt Ebelhäuser's wistful vocals float above with a slight reverb effect. The whole record is heavy on low tones, humming away like an HV power line, except for the cleaner "Bird". The production is proudly and and properly lo-fi, the sound covering you like a cosy blanket, no matter how somber it might seem on the surface. But despite relying mainly on mid-tempo stompers, Heliophobic has its share of faster songs as well, "Doc Store" in particular almost tailored for Nirvana fans with its bouncy beat and descending riff, while "Etah" is kept strategically short to pack a punch, yet not overstay its welcome. The whole thing, in the genre's best tradition, is capped off with "Dead Man Walking", an 8-minute song with a spaced-out guitar hook, which takes 4 minutes to slow down to a full halt after the main part has finished.
The impression I get from Scumbucket after listening to Heliophobe is that they are a workhorse band in the best way possible: they know what they like and stick to it, consistent and dedicated to the very end. A quick peek into the rest of their discography tells me there is more great stuff awaiting a listen, so if you're into grunge and indie rock, be sure to take some time to check this band out - they are absolutely worth your time.
