Masked bands remind a little of the Star Trek ‘rule of evens’. The popular myth is that the even-numbered Trek movies are the better ones. This sort of works, ‘The Wrath of Khan’ (the second one) being a good example. How does this relate to bands with masks? It doesn’t really, it’s just that the first band I can think of that wears masks are Mr Bungle, and they are brilliant. The second band I can think of are Slipknot, and they are ear-rapingly shit. The third band I can think of are Skat Injector, and they are really good. So, with a masked band, I guess it’s the ‘rule of odds’…fitting really.
Skat Injector are not the usual type of band that ends up in the SittingNow mailbag. For a start, most of them don’t include song titles like ‘Her Mangled C**t’. This, coupled with the fact they’re called ‘Skat Injector’, should give you a pretty decent insight into the type of band we’re dealing with today.
So, to the music then. Do Her, Fuck Her sounds a bit like ‘What’s he building in there‘ era Tom Waits, presented by a paedophile Walt Disney after a night on valium and vodka; a good start. ‘Jack ‘n’ Bullets’ is a grind-synth-gabba nightmare; imagine if you mixed early Throbbing Gristle with Agoraphobic Nosebleed, and you’re kind of there.
The aforementioned ‘Her Mangled C**t’ is just a bit mental really. It’s hard to tell if the growler is actually saying anything, or just scatting like a crack-addled hooker. The narrative is accompanied by insane blast-beats and glitchy howls that would probably scare even the most hardened free-party-gabba- enthusiast. Finally, ‘Seagulled Catamite’ is just a bit scary; I kept imagining a Dalek holding Merzbow at ransom, forcing him to play his music – but 100 times faster!
Skat Injector are doing as all a favour by growing a pair and pushing speedcore/grind to its logical extreme. Don’t expect nicely produced break-core either, it’s more like the musical equivalent of Goatse, only you’ll want to actually re-visit this. Excellente!
Ken Eakins
Check Skat Injector on Myspace
and keep an eye on Hirntrust Grind Media, and Free Thinkers Union for the 7″ releases of tracks reviewed.
I am scared to listen to this.