Remote is a mathcore band from Paris beginning formally in 2010. It features members of HKY and Quartier Rouge. They describes their music as a "chaotic, aggressive kind of post-hardcore with a hint of dark noise. It's inspired by negative feelings." The band has released a previous LP, Starving Blaze and Hollow Shades, and a split EP with the Norwegian band Barren Womb. They also participated this May and June in the Northern Noise Tour with gigs in Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and France. But now it's time for their 2016 effort, Resilience, to shine.
I get made fun of for comparing a lot of things to Botch...but this definitely has plenty of Botch to it. That along with some Scogin-era Norma Jean and Converge in the guitarwork. Lots of great, wailing hooks. Riffs are minimalist, but still technical in terms of time signatures. And rather than getting bogged down with any sense of progression, it's more of an abrasive drone. We sit in a peaceful Zen while buildings crumble around around you. Think the final scene of Fight Club. It's hardcore stripped of all emotion; a mirror image staring back at the dregs of society.
I think that "Landscrap" and "Light Lapse are my personal favorites, which is unusual considering I tend to go straight for the faster tracks in this genre. But these sludgy, slow-burners absolutely kill it when it comes to building up all the bile, all the hatred, and then unleashing it in a Fus Ro Dah of violent catharsis. We send our enemies flailing into infinity by the power of sheer angst and rebellion. It's a young man's game to be sure, and I can almost picture skinny, pale teens slam-dancing and putting bone to bone in a sweaty pit right now. But I'm not in the stone age just yet. Like a familiar high, a shot of this to the vein lets me feel what it was like to not be a responsible adult for a few minutes.
In a way, Resilient is a title that speaks personally to me. I'm sure the word had a particular meaning to the band, but for me it's about consistency and history. Many people overheard what I was listening to in my formative years and simply shook their heads. "It's just a phase," they said. Well here I am, over a decade later, and I still live for this stuff. The impact and message have changed some at this point in my journey, but the fact that bands like Remote still make me want to put a fist through the wall is certainly a testament to my own resilience in the face of criticism, and that of the genre as well.
