AMERETAT - S/T

where do i even start with this one. s. and k., children of the iranian diaspora, family on both sides of the autocratic barrier - and you hear every bit of that weight in these songs.

ameretat pulls from musical and literary influences across the iranic world, mixing modern and traditional folk instruments into something that sounds like nothing else in the hardcore scene right now.

the style takes from crust and hardcore but the multitonal feedback work is where it gets interesting - reminiscent of traditional drone instruments from the region.

it shouldn’t work on paper but it absolutely does. think lsd’s noisy hardcore chaos, the macabre anarcho sprawl of rudimentary peni, the crushing sombreness of union of uranus and dystopia - and then throw all of that through a completely different cultural lens.

the lyrics move through war, power, love, despair, kindness and our common humanity, switching between persian, avestan, lori, kurdish and english. it feels urgent and ancient at the same time.

absolutely essential.

favourite track: behind the veil