Album Review: Bitter Taste - 'The Void'

I honestly HATE being the “their demo was better” guy, but 'The Void' EP just does not live up to the sheer potential Bitter Taste exhibited with their 2017 demo, which showed plenty of promise. Now, is it fair of me to compare a band’s newest EP to their previous demo? Yep, it sure is! Because said three-track demo only came out a year ago and it’s a fairly decent metallic, heavy hardcore release too. Better than this new effort, I reckon. But enough about that, let's talk about 'The Void' itself.

To be totally truthful with you, this Perth outfit has pretty much flown under my radar after their demo dropped. But upon hearing this EP, I guess it’s no surprise because I’ve heard everything on here done better before by other bands. The buzzing riffs, immense vocals, and heavy breakdowns are all there, yeah, but other national and international acts do it much better in my mind. See the above 'for fans of' section of my review for said bands.

In another instance, there’s the obligatory ambient intro on the EP's first track, 'Consume You', that eventually builds into a mosh section that hits like a wet noodle. Which happens in no less than two more songs as well - though not as long as the initial first song's own intro. Had this been a larger, longer full-length record, these wouldn’t have been an issue, but that's not the case. 'The Void' is a short five-track EP and these moments really break the flow of energy between songs sadly.

Touching back onto ‘Consume You’, after the initial anticlimax it leads itself into a groove-laden breakdown that ends much too soon. That song, much like the rest of 'The Void' presents ideas that are both good and bad. Tracks like 'Despondent' and closer ‘Take Me Away’ prove that this Aussie group are absolutely more than capable of writing good, cohesive and fucking heavy songs. However, the other songs here seem to be a mere exercise in mashing ideas together. Creating varying ineffectiveness ranging from “oh yeah, this kinda works”, right over to, “honestly, why would you do that? Are you actively trying to hurt the listener’s ears?”.

When I said I was finished comparing this EP to Bitter Taste's first demo, I lied. Sorry. While their demo showed a band that seemed to have a real idea of where they wanted their sound to go, this shows the opposite in that it’s mostly incohesive and experiments with other sounds that are only detrimental to the overall strength of this EP and this band's band’s key metallic hardcore sound. That being said, ultimately, you’ve got to experiment to differentiate oneself and not get washed away in the mass tide of current heavy hardcore bands. And Bitter Taste can definitely stand out from the crowd, but this new EP isn’t that bold step.

Consume You

Tortured

Despondent

Hopeless

Take Me Away

'The Void' EP is out now! [Full disclosure: Bitter Taste drummer Callum Walters has written for KYS in the past].