Where they from?
New Jersey. I’m currently on vacation while writing this and literally have no access to the internet so I cannot regale you with any quirky facts about the infamous Garden State. I will say this past year I would occasionally take the PATH from 34th street to Hoboken so I could legally bet on sport matches for the following week but ever since they legalized gambling in Pennsylvania, I much prefer to take the two hour bus trip back to Philadelphia so I can lose $40 when the Saints don’t cover the spread. Much better than spending ANY time in Jersey if you ask me.
What do they sound like?
Did you know a Vasoconstriction is the narrowing of blood vessels resulting from contraction of the muscular wall of vessels? PRETTY FUCKING BRUTAL!
Why the Hype?
So, last week my friend Alexia (aka my partner in Grind) sent me a link to this group’s Bandcamp at like 3 in the morning without any sort of description of the band whatsoever. Normally, I wouldn’t bother even checking out the link but I did and AHOY, does this shit slap!
The obvious initial comparison I would make here is to Detroit’s Cloud Rat as the basic element of both bands seems to be melodic neocrust/D-beat with grindcore flourishes but after a few listens I feel like there are a few distinct differences here. Vasoconstriction’s sound is overall a bit more “aggressive” highlighted by a few flirtations with death metal on various songs and even stronger dalliances with knuckle-dragging hardcore breakdowns. Dare I suggest that this band’s New Jersey roots betray a certain influence from those other NJ Grind Stalwarts, the almighty and bonerific GROUND?!
Latest Release?
Occupation EP. Like I previously mentioned, the base ingredient to the music here is #CloudRatGrind, a sound which draws primarily from sad Converge songs and hardcore bands named after sad Converge songs, but there are enough tricks up this band’s sleeve to keep the listener on their toes. “Springer” and “Scorned” contain enough ignorant hardcore to keep the flat-brim crowd very happy, whereas songs like “Brittle Bodies” and “Faded” sound like sped-up Tragedy and thus would be very appealing to the army of Brooklyn hipsters who keep their arms crossed at shows. Very rare to find a record these days with such a broad spectrum of appeal. Now the only question is, do I take the Packers with or without the points?
