Band: TUSK
Genres: Punk / Hardcore / Post-Hardcore / Grind / Post-Metal / Doom / Ambient / Sludge / Noise / Experimental / Instru-metal / Prog / DroneRelated artists: Pelican, Everlast, Hinckley, Lair Of The Minotaur, San Angeles, Chord, Edge-Ucate, Long Live Nothing, Teith and Æges.
Country: Chicago, Illinois USA
Years Active: 2001-2007
Song: "Life's Denial"
Album: "The Resisting Dreamer"
Year: 2007
For fans of: Old Man Gloom, Pelican, 5ive, Hewhocorrupts, Backstabbers Inc., Furnace, Kowloon Walled City, Shoto, Canyons, Creeper, Curl Up And Die, Kayo Dot, Oaken, Ornaments, Converge, Fantomas, Boris, Racebannon and Cassilis.
Label(s): Hewhocorrupts Inc. / Interloper Records / Tortuga Records / Daymare Recordings
This post's artist is from the March 2016 Mix. This is track #9.
This post's artist is from the March 2016 Mix. This is track #9.
TUSK was a pre-Pelican outfit from Chicago that began as a grind/hardcore band and over time morphed into an experimental/post-hardcore group over the course of six years in the early to mid 2000s. I dig some songs by TUSK but I shall let my opinion be known that the band doesn't captivate me all that often. Regardless, they are definitely worth checking out...especially the good songs!
In the beginning...there was hardcore/grind and pre-Pelican during the two songs located on the 'Hewhocorrupts split' 7". These two songs are menacing, angry and dirty with "Depraved Perspective" taking the cake as one of the band's best songs of all time, as it blasts its way through with speedy sludge/hardcore with some excellent contrasting dual vocals.
....then came the metallic hardcore and thrash album 'Get Ready'. It was initially released in 2002 as a 9-song album and later re-released with 7 additional bonus live songs from WZRD. This is my personal TUSK teddy bear, as it houses the most complete set of songs that also happen to tickle my fancy more than the other releases. "Get Ready", "A Animal Has a Nice Day" and "So Long, Farewell" are all ear candy and a much more honed sonic approach from their 2001 debut but goddamn, that "Six-Act Descent to the Lower Reaches" is epic as shit. Clocking in at 4:15 it begins with rolling, sludgy and down tuned metallic hardcore with multiple people bellowing out vocals and crushing breakdowns. This is one of most Pelican-sounding songs with a shit ton of heavy vocals so fans of that band will truly appreciate the instrumentals while getting a taste of what they would have sounded like if they weren't straight up instru-metal.
...then there was the doomy and experimental hardcore of 'Tree of No Return' which I was not really a fan of, as it sounds unfinished and not very cohesive, especially when compared to, hmmm...every other release. Not a single song is redeeming for me, but maybe one will be for you. An interesting note in terms of track length, the first two releases generally kept all songs to under three minutes, this release houses songs at the one-minute mark as well as the final two which surpass 8 minutes and the final record has four songs that average out to nearly 10 minutes per song.
...and finally came ambient, mostly instru-metal and very experimental album 'The Resisting Dreamer', which sounds like Pelican on insane drugs tripping out over 5ive and Old Man Gloom simultaneously. Songs such as "The Everlasting Taste of Disguise" sounds like later era Pelican with spoken/stoner vocals that ends up skimming Slint and Worst Gift territory at the three-minute mark. My personal favourite from this final record is "Life's Denial" which is a dreamy tapestry of spacey riffs and ambiance and is also quite reminiscent of...you guessed it, Pelican.
I acquired a few very sweet TUSK posters from 'The Resisting Dreamer' which are unfolded and posted at $2 CAD (that's almost like a fucking dollar US). I've linked that here.
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2001 - Hewhocorrupts split 7"EP
2002 - Get Ready cd/12"LP
2004 - Tree of No Return cd/12"LP (stream/download here)
2005 - Get Ready re-issue cd/12"LP (includes 7-song live set) (stream/download here)
2007 - The Resisting Dreamer cd/12"LP (stream/donate/download here)
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(2001) TUSK - "Depraved Perspective" (from 'Hewhocorrupts' split)
(2002) TUSK - "Six-Act Descent to the Lower Reaches" (from 'Get Ready')
(2004) TUSK - "Lost in the Woods" (from 'Tree of No Return')
(2007) TUSK - "Life's Denial" (from 'The Resisting Dreamer')
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TUSK out of print mp3 discography download / additional links
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