I’ve been lucky enough to play a gig with these chaps, but far be it from me to write some sycophantic diatribe. No, no. I need not write anything really, you need only go and see Lafaro in the flesh to experience their “message”. All sneering lines, violent purge, brutal single note riffage and yes, skits (?).

Easy Meat, their second long player trades on that very live reputation, building on their debut with a more visceral sounding record. Production wise, it has the floor rumbling bass and huge drums that And So I Watch You From Afar…, former touring and label mates, make fine use of. ‘Sucking Diesel’, a highlight, employs that very tactic adding gang vocals into the mix.

It ain’t a particularly “easy” listen, but then, if you’re listening to it at all you probably expected that right? Johnny Black spits out the words, stream of consciousness like, whilst the music caterwauls behind him as on single (ha, a fucking SINGLE!) ‘Easy Meat’ which lurches forward and careers downhill, barrelling lesser men out of the way. It sounds, in places not unlike Mötorhead.

Lyrically, I wasn’t even really paying attention until the third or fourth listen, and even then, it wasn’t until ‘Settle Petal’ stomped through my headphones that Easy Meat started to make sense, in a bigger context I mean. The same song hit me when I stood and watched them in a live setting. They played it after a monologue about small town idiocy, racism and defecating in ones undergarments. Subtle, they aren’t but that particular song moves from a fairly standard two chord chug in the verse, opening up into something brilliant in the chorus. “There must be another way to skin this mule / there must be a another way to burn this fuel / there must be another better way”, it’s the best song on the record, hinting at the disatisfaction and anger which seethes under the rest of the bands music (comedy skits aside).

If there is a criticism to be made of Easy Meat, it’s that, at 18 tracks, it can’t quite sustain the momentum needed for such a long album, with a number of tracks sounding too indistinct next to one another, but as it freewheels to its conclusion, it packs in two incredibly strong songs to finish on as well as a mariachi rendition of ‘Jingle Bells’, which will always raise spirits. ‘Meat Wagon’, another gang vocalled infused bruiser and ‘Maudlin’, perhaps the most jarring thing on Easy Meat. It is a gorgeous acoustic lament, similar to early Aereogramme. It sits at odds with rest of the record in its emotional directness and subtlelty but is a wonderful end to a relentless record.

Words: Chris

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