First full length from a band that has been dominating shows in Toronto for the better part of the past decade. From the opening notes of „Your Head In My Arms,“ SIYAHKAL unleashes absolute, stomping psychedelic hardcore perversion. Self-recorded, the thing sounds like a demon unleashed. Squalls of noise are smeared across a record of near-meditative, throbbing HC. It’s an unrelenting, brutal album that would see any sane person running for the exits. While the music itself is precise, intentional and pounding, the vocal delivery and its lyrical subject matter provide a deeper meaning. This isn’t just a record to crack skulls to, it’s an album loaded with political subtext. How does an artist reconcile their own exile? How do they engage with the caricatures that western psychosocial dominance makes of their beautiful home? When their own survival is at stake, what is the true meaning of justice? And the sentiments expressed here are not just Iranian, or Venezuelan, or Palestinian. SIYAHKAL’s „Days of Smoke and Ash“ reflects the reality of the world as this era comes undone. They’ve manifested something universal and urgent that blurs the boundaries of hardcore punk. Women. Life. Freedom. Hold each others hands you fuckers.
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