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Reviews
Kerrang - KKKK (5th June 2004)
Shit-kicking
next level hardcore.
The Lowdown: It's already too late. Georgian (the state, not the
country) quartet The Letters Organize are taking their turf back,
suffocating every inch of this cacophonous reissue with a pressure
built up from boiling down frenetic call-and-response charges
and mixing them with spazzcore interludes that owe as much to
converge as they do Refused. The end result is bleak, stark, frightening
and required listening. - Alistair Lawrenced
Rocksound
- 8 out of 10 (June 2004)
Bored
by the indie / post rock / post emo holocaust? Well, The Letters
Organize might just have the cure. Cutting the veins of Circle
Takes The Square, Fugazi and Refused, this Atlanta, Georgia quartet
mix the claret, resulting in this pulse-raising effort. Oh yes,
The Letters Organize are on a knife-edge and they want you to
feel their desperation! Theirs is a short, sharpe shock that will
have you leaping out of complacency, as if you've been watching
a scary movie. 'Song Of Hope' features frantic vocals nailed to
a backdrop of urgent, sweat-palmed drumming and prickly guitar
- dragged out at reckless pace. There's the heart-stopping, pacemaker
meltdown of 'When Will I (Find My Way)' with axe-work that'll
lash and sting you into submission, and the flaming 'Reason To
Start A Fire'. Twisted, uneasy listening at it's best. Take this
medicine, you need it! (Ronnie Kerswell)
DrownedInSound
- 4 out of 5
When
legendary and, frankly, essential Swedish hardcore caterwaulers
Refused split up back in 1998 no one could have predicted the
swathes of 2nd rate copyists plagiarising their life-affirming
soul-power formula with soulless ham-strung efforts attempting
to tap into the raw energy that was fundamental to their music.
It’s a passion that lies deeper than full-throttle guitar
chords and decimating drumming; a passion and fury that cannot
be simply tapped into but which lies at the very epicentre of
such a band’s very core. The Bronx, Minus, Snot; they all
have it. Now you can add The Letters Organize to that list. Originally
released as the ‘Everybody Goes Bash’ MCD on Brand
Name Records on the States ‘(The Cure)’ is a thrillingly
expedient disc rattling with all the raw passion and uncontrollable
energy of Refused, bolstered by a ferocious Bronx-like intensity
that skins alive any half-assed competition and dances manically
on their shallow, gut-less carcasses.
But
it’s not all blazing, white-knuckle rides of punk rock noise.
Propelled by quirky intermittent guitar jerks ‘10/21’
pile-drives through a rippling groove, pulsing with an almost
tribal rhythmic tenure. Throughout the disc bursts of fury are
tied together with strings of melody swinging in and out of ear-blasting
hardcore punk, breaking things up nicely enough to guarantee a
prolonged residency in your stereo.
That
The Letters Organize hail from the exact same town Refused originally
disbanded (that being Atlanta, Georgia) seems somewhat consequential
to their barnstorming approach yet secondary to the righteously
expressive din ricocheting throughout. It kicks, it swings, it
grooves and it makes me wanna smash all my favourite CDs so I
can never listen to them again (yes, I have a weird sense of logic).
Big
Cheese - 4 out of 5 (April 2004)
The
bastard offspring of The Blood Brothers and Fugazi.
There are only two things I can say for sure about The Letters
Organize - firstly, they're from somewhere in the USA and secondly,
they're fucking insane. It;s a good thing this is only a mini-album
because a whole album's worth of their intense, angular and skewed
hardcore would quite probably be too much to bear. As it is, 'The
Cure' is a short, sharp burst of abrasive yelped vocals, off-kilter
riffing and crazed time changes. The likes of 'Song Of Hope' and
'The Reason' come on like a gloriously screwed-up melange of Refused,
Fugazi and Blood Brothers, teetering on the brink of ruin but
instead sounding like the product of a twisted, inspired genius.
- (Nick Mann)
Mass
Movement
This is just insane.
If you'd ever wondered what aural equivalent of attention deficit
disorder might be, then look no further. Wild, jumpy, fractured
and yet powerful and direct, The Letters Organize will blow your
head off. (James)
Playdead
5/5
As the intro fades out
on the words "because this is all we have", as soon
as track 2 'The Cure' kicks in, you know these guys really really
mean it. These guys are pissed off, and venting their anger in
the best way they know how, chaotic, insane hardcore. Brilliant!
The Letters Organize are like the bastard child of At The Drive
In and Refused, I know this may sound like a lazy journalist cliché,
and although it probably doesn't do them as much justice as they
deserve, it's true. They have the chaotic element in tow, and
on the 8 tracks here, I could safely say they own the word chaotic.
I can only imagine what these guys are like live. Combined with
powerful, imaginative, furious hardcore and you have it all. Blasting
through all 8 songs in what seems like no time at all TLO, revel
in spoken word and screeched vocals, the way screeching vocals
were always meant to be done before they got bastardized by millions
of Thursday copyists the world over. So, this album will blow
your head off, simple as that. It takes hardcore about as far
as it can go before it becomes unlistenable, it marries together
perfectly the intense and the melodic, the crazy with the anthemic
and comes out with something that somehow gets close to perfect,
then spits in it's face. Awesome. (MB)
Slug
& Lettuce (USA)
Kinetic, excitable and unstable
as nitro. Spastic blister gut stabs and over-the-top snare trashing
with wibble waddle wash of bass squigles. Screaming for change
has been kicked up a few notches. Aggressive and familiar but
not altogether contrived of shit you've heard before. Try not
to be too Java jacked when digging up on these firecrackers. You
might blow brain vein and crap in your pants.
Rancid
News #6 May/June 2004
So
In At The Deep End have released another good record. It's not
like I would expect anything less from them. The Letters Organize
are discordant in all the right ways coming across as a slightly
tamer JR Ewing or early Blood Brothers. It's pretty hard writing
a review for them actually, whenever I put the record on I want
to get up and sing and dance, but then again singing and dancing
to a good band is far more interesting then trying to describe
their sound. (edd)
Suspect
Device #43
This is good stuff,
real frenetic, all over the place, and noisy! Like Refused and
maybe a crazier At The Drive-In and Fugazi. Eight tracks, plenty
for an MCD, though they are pretty short and to the point, which
can only be good I reckon. The lyrics are good, very cryptic to
me but having plenty to say. You can only imagine that these guys
are awesome live but they're from Atlanta so we may never know,
hopefully they will get over here. Another top release from IATDE
for sure. (Si Briggs)
Direct
Hit Zine
This
is a re-release of their MCD “Everybody Goes Bash”
under a new name. What you get from this American band is a dose
of high energy REFUSED screamo-metallic mayhem. It’s as
simple as that, well technical and all that malarkey. Stunning
layout care of Mr Mid.
Metal
Pigeon
This
is intense listening. Originally released on TLO records in America
and now getting a European release through In at the deep end
records The Letters Organize occupy a very chaotic space somewhere
between Refused, Fugazi, Converge, Page 99, JR Ewing and the like.
Musically
The Letters Organize are nothing new as such but they play with
a passion and ferocity on this record that would be hard to surpass.
This is the way emotionally charged music should be performed.
The more I listen to this record the more I appreciate it. Ok,
some of the lyrics are clichéd (see track number two ‘10/21.’for
a prime example) but they fit the music perfectly. As vocalist/guitarist
Brent spills his heart out via method of a frighteningly awkward
scream guitars corrode and scrape against one another over a backdrop
of heavy drum patterns. Their sound is something that’s
both in tune with the matters of the heart but also rather mosh
friendly. In a dance around the room like a madman style.
The
Letters Organize is a band playing to the prime of their potential,
fitting as much anger and discontent into each song as is possible
without overboard. I’m hard pushed to find anything really
wrong with this record.
Perhaps
the only thing that’s wrong is the feeling I had after hearing
this cd all the way through- it’s an excellent listen, well
worth the time but I feel like I’ve heard some of the riffs
and ideas before. But in a whole musical world that’s striving
for originality as of late The Letters Organize play a convincing,
strong emo/noise hybrid that will go down just as well with Converge
and Refused fans alike.
Logo
Magazine - 4/5
Sharing a deep kinship with the jarring and relentless punk abuse
of Welsh string-snappers mclusky, Atlanta, Georgia’s The
Letters Organise are an uncompromising conception. Dropping in
at a meagre 19 minutes this debut LP trails an identikit formula
from beginning to end, driven by unrestrained adolescent panic
and veering on the mildly schizophrenic. Dragging their vocal
chords through shards of broken glass, The Letters Organize rage
and bleed amidst stop/ start guitar and an unabated drumming assault,
snaking their sound with a white-noise venom pulled from the very
pit of each members battered-and-abused stomachs. It’s unwelcoming
and frankly petrifying in its level of cathartic release, but
as a result it’s fuckin’ brilliant and deserving of
a far greater audience.
Suspect
Device
This
is good stuff , real frenetic , all over the place , and noisy
! Like Refused and maybe a crazier At The Drive-In , and Fugazi
, who all these bands owe a huge debt to of coarse . 8 tracks
, plenty for an ep or MCD , though they are pretty short and to
the point , which can only be good I reckon . The lyrics are good
, very cryptic to me but having plenty to say , I think . Is it
just me who can’t decipher lyrics unless they are painfully
obvious ? You can only imagine that these guys are awesome live
but they’re from Atlanta so we may never know , hopefully
they will get over here . Another top release from IATDE for sure
.
Vendetta
Zine
I
hated this the first time I listened to it. I wasn’t that
big a fan of the Refused's style of 'core (to which lazy comparisons
are inevitable) and in that crucial first listen all that really
registered was the occasional bouts of left-of-centre political
agenda and the sounds of hardcore using, get your head around
this, more then three strings! Blame
my initial reaction of penis envy; I can’t play more then
three strings and I don’t see why anyone else should.
Second
listen and it’s ok, bearable even, I could already feel
The Letters Organise working their magic, the seeds of doubt being
sown in the rich soil of my mind; I mean, it’s not like
In At The Deep End to sign a shit band is it? This is actually
quite rousing isn’t it? I’m rather a fan of this screaming-over-silence
business…
Third
listen and I’m sold. How could I have ever thought otherwise;
the title track sets a standard for furious finger-bleeding guitar
work and the sound of skins being brutally and mercilessly hammered,
these are some of the most urgent and frenzied sounds ever committed
to recording. Without warning the aural assault recoils leaving
just the petulant snarl of vocalist Brent, harsh against the comparative
silence of the subdued instrumental, “Young and blind come
hand in hand but respect comes when it’s due/living dead
and dying to stay alive/two strings hold you back…”
Like a distant tidal-wave the furious sounds of The Letters Organise
cascade against the last three words, screamed in throaty desperation
“…from the edge.” From
‘10/21’ to ‘When Will I (Find My Way)’,
each track has similar ferocity and a intensity, the latter track
oozing attitude with it’s mantra of ‘When will I find
my way?!’ My only complaint is that clocking under twenty
minutes in eight tracks you’re left literally aching to
hear more. It’ll
be an injustice akin to the current line-up of the Dead Kennedys*
if this is the last we ever hear from The Letters Organise.
With
Love, The Underground (Germany)
This EP by THE LETTERS ORGANIZE from Atlanta, Georgia was already
released overseas but what a good thing IATDE decided to have
a release for Europe. Eventhough it's not a full length I would
recommend the record to everybody. The band sounds a bit like
REFUSED with a JR EWING influence to it, very heavy guitars and
very chaotic. I'm already anxious to hear some new songs but I
guess this is very good way to start off a long friendship.
Enough
(Germany)
Hailing
from Atlanta, here
we have an exciting and even more ROCKing band. Seven songs (+
Intro) which have been released as “Everybody Goes Bash”
MCD before and is now available as “(The Cure)” MCD
on In At The Deep End Records again. Thanks, Mark for letting
us share the pleasure the listen to this fine piece of music.
Take the rock out of Refused´s last album, add some sing-a-longs
and start dancing, dancing, dancing! Check this one out, it´s
fun!!! (Jan)
Feedback
#79 (June 2004)
The
introduction ends with the words "because this is all we
know" and then the band are up and running. This is hardcore
with a heavier bottom edge, bringing together spoken word and
singing with distortion, energy and plenty of metal. It is music
that mixes rough and raw with delicate and thoughtful, with arrangements
that are designed to emphasise the power with the subtlety of
a cement mixer.
PunkRockTheory
For
those of you who thought that people in the Southern states of
America take life a little easier and are more relaxed about things,
here comes The Letters Organize from Atlanta, Georgia to shatter
your illusions. The
intro may already sound a bit menacing but I doubt anything could’ve
prepared me for the hardcore mayhem that followed. Seven songs
long you are thrown in a dark hole hearing nothing but crazed
screams while being stampeded by angular guitarwork and pounding
drums with weird time changes. “The Cure” MCD is one
of those releases that actually sounds dangerous and you’re
glad it’s over after 19 minutes cuz you’re not sure
how much more of a beating you could’ve taken. Yet you can’t
bring yourself to press the stop button! Think Blood Brothers
meets Refused and you’ll get the general idea.
Rock
Hard (Italy)
Uscito
originariamente negli States come autoproduzione, vede ora la
luce in Europa “(the cure)” (IATDE), EP di debutto
dei THE LETTERS ORGANIZE, autori di un violentissimo post hardcore
di scuola Refused. L’attitudine è la medesima e anche
la follia di fondo. Le canzoni sono estremamente di impatto, violente
e varie. Una band interessante che sa gestire molto bene la parecchia
carne al fuoco.
Subcult
(Germany)
Meine
Fresse was für ein Schreihals, was für ein Brett. Noch
nie etwas vom Label "in at deep end" gehört? Geschweige
denn von dieser großartigen Band, die es weiß music
to the max zu betreiben? Ich muß sagen, ich auch nicht!
Nicht nur einmal erinnert ihr Sound an eine Mischung aus Refused,
Breach,den Blood Brothers und The Mars Volta ...
Hierbei handelt es sich ledliglich um eine Mini-CD mit 8 Songs,
aber ... das ist auch gut so. Denn mehr als diese 7 Songs sind
wahrscheinlich eher schwer verdaulich. Diese Jungs, die irgendwoher
aus Amerika stammen sind eindeutig verrückt. Permanent vertrackt,
verspielt und sehr sehr wütend sind the letters organize.
Aber auf wen?!?? Egal. Hab mir im Vorfeld ein paar Reviews durchgelesen
und festellen müssen, das "In at deep end records"
stets in hohen Tönen für ihren nicht alltäglichen
Sound gelobt werden. "The Cure" klingt so verrückt
und gleichzeitig, warm und mitreissend. Das gibt´s wirklich
selten. Wenn ihr mir nicht glaubt, holt euch diese Scheibe und
tanzt...
Punkisdemierda
(Spain)
Este EP de siete
temas mas una intro Salió a la venta en América
como "Everybody goes bash" y ahora ha sido editado en
Europa como (The Cure) por iatde records. Si nunca hastenido el
placer de toparte con The Letters Organize imaginate una mezcla
entre Refused, Blood Brothers y Fugazi. El disco comienza con
una intro tranquilita que nos hace esperar algo diferente de lo
que se nos avecina. Si tuviera que escoger un adjetivo para calificar
el sonido de este grupo ese sería caótico, escuchar
este disco es como encontrarse en medio de una tormenta de la
cual nos es imposible salir. Esta sensación se acentúa
con el excelente uso de la voz de los cantantes Brent Jay y Garrett
Range, que en ocasiones nos gritan con toda su rabia y acto seguido
parece que nos susurren. Dentro del caos reinante en el disco
se aprecia también cierta sensación de orden, todo
suena como tiene que sonar y donde tiene que sonar. El disco termina
de la misma manera en la que empieza...ya se sabe, después
de la tempestad viene la calma. Disco muy pero que muy recomendable,
además la portada y el libreto están muy bien se
puede comprar en www.iatde.com. Una sugerencia: No lo escuchéis
en un sitio donde no os podais mover porque sería insoportable.
Decoy
Music (US)
So, The Letters Organize.
Chances are, that if you read Alternative Press, or were at the
Warped Tour in Atlanta, you've heard about these guys. Maybe you've
heard OF them, but never actually heard them. Well, what you should
do is go to a distro site, your local indie shop, or whatever,
and buy a copy of Everybody Goes Yeah! Bash... OR, you could just
wait for their full length, 11 track release thats been slated
for SOMETIME this summer. Either way, this is just a musical experience
that shouldn't be passed up. All
right, seriously, I don't have a bad word to speak about this
band. I mean, they sound a lot like The Blood Brothers, Circle
Takes The Square, and maybe even some earlier post hardcore, ala
Refused. Thing is, this is totally original, and actually more
abrasive and rough than any of the other bands listed. To give
you a weird idea of how this band sounds, I feel that his music
would fit nicely into a mass murder scene in an indie horror film.
Yeah, I just get that vibe. The music is fast, and the vocals
are CRAZY. Its just, controlled chaos, best way to describe it.
When you're not being screamed at, you're being spoken to, softly,
and that just works to intensify the screams when they come, and
they will come, oh, they will. The
lineup is Brent on guitar, Garrett on bass, Donnie on drums, and
Cassie on guitar. Brent and Garrett are also the vocalists who
most likely have coughed up blood a few times. The entire act
sounds so tight its not even funny. I mean, they all play such
fast and aggressive music, and there are NO slip ups or poorly
played instruments anywhere on this CD. Sonically, I
couldn't find a thing that I would have improved. The buildups
and breakdowns are nicely placed, and while they're awesomeness
may be fleeting, you can definitely move to them. This album is
certainly something to listen to while driving, biking, walking,
or whatever you do that involves movement. The sound quality of
this album is a little substandard, but as some folks say, less
is more. The drums might be a bit too loud, the vocals might peak
out every now and then, but it doesn't even matter. That just
adds to the character of the album. Thats another reason this
band reminded me of TBB, the quality and way this album was produced
reminded me of 'Rumors Laid Waste.' Now don't even take this as
a complaint, because it really isn't. I think if this piece was
more produced, it just wouldn't have the same energy. Its definitely
perfect the way it is. This album is something that I would have
BOUGHT if I ever heard this band... and of course, if the CD wasn't
sent to me for review. And to anyone who knows me, or the internet,
thats saying a lot. Overall, this is probably the best CD I've
reviewed so far... on a scale of me actually ENJOYING the music.
I don't know, I really didn't find anything wrong with this album.
Theres usually some carping little detail that prevents me from
giving any piece of music a perfect 10, but... not here. 10/10.
Booyah.
Punknews
After feeling like crap
all night i woke up to find a package downstairs from the lovely
people at In At The Deep End Records. Every cd i've got from these
has been top class and this was no exception. The first song is
the song most people have heard, The Cure taken from the IATDE
sampler. The rest of the EP takes a similar egde, fast and loud
instruments which never seems to lose momentum with the vocals
ranging from the passion driven shouty vocals of The Cure and
Take The Cut to the slower emo style voice in parts of Song Of
Hope and 10/21 which both together add a certain diversity. They
have been described as Panic Rock which really didnt make any
sense to me, they just play no nonsense fast as hell hardcore
punk enough to keep even the most elitist of us happy. Great artwork
to go with it and only a fiver its well worth the purchase, heres
hoping for a UK tour soon!
Inside
Metal
Described
as 'Panic Rock', I think this is the best representation of their
sound, but obviously adding some hardcore elements. Currently
signed to underground England-based label 'In At The Deep End
Records', I haven't heard much from the label but if they keep
releasing stuff like this, The artwork is sick.
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