siLLy puPPy
With an errant disregard for niceties and general aberrancy, the Providence, Rhode Island based DAUGHTERS debuted in 2002 not as the neo-no wave and industrial sensation that they have become known for but rather as a punk infused mathcore noise making unit that formed in the ashes of the grindcore band As The Sun Sets where vocalist Alexis S.F. Marshall, guitarist Jeremy Wabiszczewicz and drummer Jon Syverson all played together.
After the addition of Pat Masterson on bass, the new group reconvened as DAUGHTERS and released this debut EP only three days after their official formation. At a mere 4 minutes and 13 seconds, this tiny four track vinyl 7” was more like a declaration of existence rather than a bona fide release but nevertheless displayed a new more technical infused evolution that moved beyond the As The Sun Sets experience.
The track titles pretty much tell the whole story: “Hello Assholes” (1:00), “Flattery Is a Bunch of Fucking Bullshit” (1:35) “A Room Full of Hard-ons and Nowhere to Sit Down” (0:31), “My Stereo Has Mono and So Does My Girlfriend” (1:07) as they display extreme contumaciousness punk infused hostility alongside a rather humorous display of irony.
Even at this early stage DAUGHTERS was already displaying a trait that allowed them to stand out from the other bombastic noise based acts in the core subs of metal. While the members were just as capable of cranking out the caustic guitar and bass riffs with pummeling percussion and hostile screamed vocals, the extra touches elevated DAUGHTERS to a higher status.
Tucked into the swirling salvoes of grindcore outbursts are intricate progressive touches that allow the riffs to shape shift with extreme time signature deviations coupled with more surreal softer passages that take a 180 from the frenetic cannonade of relentless orotundity that pummels the senses. While a mere blip on the greater music scene, this eponymously titled debut EP nevertheless sowed the seeds.
At this point DAUGHTERS weren’t too different from other technically infused mathcore bands like Botch, Car Bomb, Psyopus, Behold… The Arctopus or The Dillinger Escape Plan but somehow they managed to infuse a little of their own personality into these tiny turgid eruptions of unbridled energy. An interesting start for those who want to go back to the origins.