Review: Caustic – 'Faux Caus'

CAUSTIC
'Faux Caus'
UNDUSTRIAL MUSIC

Only a concept such as a fake album could come from the mind of an artist like Matt Fanale. The king of jizzcore returns... only he doesn't. Not on this new Caustic album which doesn't feature one note of material by Caustic. Instead Fanale has invited his music making peers to each write what they think a Caustic song should be. The result is brilliant and best of all all proceeds go to the Sophie Lancaster Foundation.

The majority of the album focusses on recapturing the early caustic sound as heard on the likes of 'This Is Jizzcore' and '…And You Will know Me By The Trail Of Vomit' with an overall leaning towards powernoise and electro-punk from the various artists contributing. The likes of Flammpunkt, Killcrop, Null Device, Robots On Drugs, Fedorahead, and Pill Brigade provide some genuinely brilliant moments as embrace the spirit of jizzcore and evoke some tracks that would make you doubt that they weren't taken from Matt's own personal stash of unreleased monstrosities.

With this being a compilation and one where the low-fi early works of Caustic are being used as the main source of inspiration, it goes without saying that this is a rough and ready sounding track list. However it has been mixed and mastered well and maintains its focus across every track.

This may not be the new Caustic album most people were expecting, but it is a brilliant move from Fanale. In terms of his own songwriting his last two albums under the Caustic moniker, as well as his first full-length outing with Beauty Queen Autopsy have shown that he has grown substantially beyond his root sound. Yet there are plenty of endearing tracks contained within that part of his discography. So while Fanale continues to move onwards and upwards with each full-length studio album, why not invite some friends over to do their best impressions of you in the meantime? It's fun, it's different and most importantly it's all for a good cause.

Don't worry, Matt Fanale will return soon with the hotly anticipated REAL Caustic album 'Industrial Music'.

Posted in: Caustic,faux caus,music