Is it the conjunction of different facts announcing the decline of humanity which favours the blend of noisy genres and scenes ? More and more bands manage to gather avid fans of blackened, heavy and mesmerizing stuff through a raw and minimalistic common banner; in different manners though, they can originally come from Punk, sludge, Industrial or Black metal, have grown through different phases but (often, at maturity) have considerably slowed-down their tempos, turned them rawer and more minimalistic, also reflecting the harshness of nowadays life - before all as individuals and eventually as underground bands...
Until recently, I didn't knew much about P.U.T., a french duo (though physically shared between France and Belgium) existing since 15 years and delivering uncompromised Industrial/Sludge/Punk with a bunch of albums, eps , splits and even 2 lives !!! Being absent of the REAL underground during 10 years (1996 to 2006) -like I've been- often reveals to me some hidden gems and P.U.T. is one of those, lurking in the shadows of doom to eviscerate you with crushing noises...
"Like Animals" is the 5th album of brothers Beyet and from what I've briefly heard of their previous works, it is the rawest and heaviest too; Lionel handles the bass and sings while Nicolas is on guitar and sings too, the machines do the rest... If you think immediately -like I did- about another french band named Crown, you got it wrong for a great part - even if there's common caracters (anger) and influences (Godflesh, Killing Joke). P.U.T.'s sound is a lot more raw and minimalistic, this has been live recorded in a dozen of hours and smells perfectly sweat, booze, cold smoke and filthiness. Loud and abrasive, the sound is originally also influenced by Industrial and Electro with hypnotic, sometimes martial textures ("There's a Mammoth in this Room") but the thick guitar sound brings some harsh METAL crudeness that predominates in the overall.
We're definitely not far some Black Metal tones with vicious and rasping vocals, tense crudeness ("Exuvia", "Like Animals", "Broke a Line")... Indeed most often the SLUDGE tag fits but more in its recent blackened forms than its noiseist.
Noises samples are regular but not prominent and boring at any moment, some enhance horrific atmospheres ("IT"), others some dissonant dementia... just as in the closing song "It ain't Gonna be Fun" which ends in an hypnotic way the album.
Half groggy but motivated for more, P.U.T. is in no way fun that's certain, the band acts on you like a disturbing machine, attractive and painful at the same time... Simple, loud and sinister; taste it !
