Album Review: Pariso - 'Consanguinity'

Primarily London-based band, Pariso have produced a clever and rapidly moving album with 'Consanguinity'. The complexities of instrumentation combined with the band’s abrupt aggression on this album demands attention. They manage to reveal so much force through such short tracks too, averaging at two and a half minutes each.

Pariso do not hesitate at all when it comes to introductions, bursting right in with an explosion of noise in ‘The Separation’. This solid start drives the album to more chaos, and as a whole, the maintained sound gives the release a great sense of prosody.

The beginning of ‘Maniai’ is only a little bit less intense, boasting some high-wailing guitars, and feels like a rush to the finish, even when things slow and the guitars feel as if they are dragging themselves forward.

Following even more vigorous and fast-moving content, ‘Tower of Genus’ pulls things back a little bit for a while. This change allows for some mesmerising but haunting female vocals to take the lead, and these are then kept as the instruments and screams return.

The theme of the album, as the band have identified themselves, is family and relations, but it would be more accurate to say it is specifically about the pain that comes with struggles associated with family members and other relations. This can be heard throughout the songs, but is really brought to the fore as the album comes to a close.

In ‘Dead Blockade’ you can feel the pain in Mario Gambardella’s voice when he screams, “when you close your eyes, do you see me? Because when I do, I don't see you." That last ‘you’ is dragged over one of the few moments in the album where instrumentation is sparse, and it feels as if it is cutting through what has been built up by the band. The song then slows and softens, evoking more of a heavy alternative sound, and eventually fades out. This end section provides a sort of cool down following the constant heavy blows that come before.

Pariso have created a relentless and unforgiving album through 'Consanguinity'. It is extremely generous for them to offer such a striking collection for free, and even though it may not be for everyone, it is certainly something worth checking out.

1. The Separation

2. Maniai

3. Pigs

4. Methuselah

5. Tower Of Genus

6. Equivocation

7. Montserrat

8. Trolljegeren

9. Dead Blockade