Primitive – With The Rats And Snakes
Melbourne’s Metal Quartet Primitive are back with their second EP With the Rats and Snakes and they are here to show the world just how far they have come since their first back in 2017. Already having strong foundations of solid Heavy Metal songwriting, Primitive bring you 5 killer tracks that will slam a sledgehammer to your chest with chugging riffs and then slice you up with some sharpened and refined melodic leadwork that is strewn throughout all songs which you will be needing to be put back together at the end of the ordeal.
Summoning their own version of Melodic Thrash, there is always a head banging riff, melody in the background and then add in some wicked riff/drum syncopation for good measure and you have a well-balanced EP. Their sound is heavily influenced by the American Metal sounding bands, guys like Lamb of God, Chimaira or Sylosis come to mind chucking on either this or their self-titled EP.
These guys have knuckled down hard over the last couple of years and improved on everything they did in their first EP to produce a stronger sounding recording and overall band. I would be interested to see how they go with a live scene; they have always been a tight playing band, but I can imagine how they have hit that bar, if not raised it for themselves as well from this process.
The EP starts off with an acoustic intro that builds the anticipation to lead into the single off this EP, the title track, With the Rats and Snakes. Smart move by the guys to make this the single, it shows off all their skills they have in their arsenal and a nice taster for things to come as the EP progresses. Tim’s vocals have become a lot harsher and stronger this time around, there are times where the vocal tracks are doubled up and it creates more depth to his style as in The Last Nail. God is Beneath us throws in some great use of overlapping vocal lines and uses them as whispers or panning, it has a wicked effect on the delivery of the verse.
Primitive have really nailed their tone for this recording, everything is audible and crisp, but you don’t lose the harshness that they are portraying. Once again working with Chris Themelco and Monolith Studios to engineer and then sent off to Tom Cadden at Violent Sound for mastering, they have perfectly captured the little intricacies that are in the riffs, like the melody runs in Broken Hands.
Overall, I’m glad to see Primitive back and releasing new tunes, they are good at what they do, they are incredibly tight live and hopefully they get to show off these new songs and work the live scene hard again. Definitely get out to a show to check this out.
