Poise – S/T EP

The Pacific Northwest’s newest d-beat trio, Poise, packs an impressive amount of bile, urgency, and noise racket into a debut that barely breaks the eight-minute mark. Considering the caliber of bands the region continues to produce, expectations were already high, and Poise do not disappoint.

“Gnawling Ghoul” kicks things off with a blast of distorted fury; psychedelic/heavy metal guitar leads dart across the mix, nodding unmistakably toward Japanese influences, yet keeping their attack lean and direct. “Council of Despair” ratchets up the velocity, layering shrieking feedback over a pummeling d-beat that feels ready to flatten everything in its path. “Uranium Glaze” leans more toward classic Discharge influences, letting the vocals float over a mid-tempo that boils over with nightmarish tension. Then comes “Grotesque Intervention,” all lightning-fast riffing and lyrical indictment of institutions that sanctify violence. It’s the most overtly political track and my personal highlight here. Closer “Swine” clocks in under a minute, delivering one last jolt of hopelessness and terror.

What ties the five songs together is one seething question: how did we allow power to rot everything around us? With an underlying anti-fascist and anti-clerical rhetoric the band tackles themes of mental health collapse, weaponized ignorance, and global decay, all delivered over bulldozing riffs and bunker-busting d-beats.

As far as I know, this EP is still only out as a self-released demo tape, and with art this sick, it begs for a 7-inch treatment. My only complaint is that the Bandcamp release has a $10 minimum, which seems way too much for a d-beat demo when most bands go pay-what-you-want and offer a free download option. I’m pretty sure it’s more favorable for bands if ten people get it for a dollar than if one person spends $10 on yet another digital product.