HECK

Instructions is a brilliant record, not just in the way it slices and fizzes in the manic Dillinger-covering-The-Icarus-Line-garage-punk way you’d expect, but for the depth and invention that can be heard as they sneak up behind you on Don’t Touch That Dial before screeching uncontrollably in your ear, or the sublime, 16-minute, three-part aural terrorism opera of (i) See The Old Lady Decently (ii) Buried Although (iii) Amongst Those Left Are You. - Metal Hammer 8/10 (marked down from 9/10 - boo!) - Metal Hammer

HECK – Instructions (NPAG Industries)

11 March 2016

CD/LP/DL

10/10

For three years HECK’s live shows have been a joyously chaotic affair that have garnered massive amounts of attention and disbelief, but can HECK be as enjoyable sitting at home scratching your nads playing PS4 as they are whilst ducking the odd flying mic-stand, band member, lunatic fan or guitar? Can they actually pull off an equally satisfying long player?

The answer is a more than resounding yes. Simply put, Instructions a surprising feat, one of the finest hardcore albums to appear in the last decade. It’s that good.

New single and album opener ‘Good As Dead’ sets the bar. Riffs, riffs, riffs, maniacal vocals, some fantastically sludgy bass, all underpinned by great song construction which after a couple of listens manages to earworm it’s way into your cranium for quite some time. Huge swathes of the album fly across in a barrage of bludgeoning fury, but like all great hardcore artists, HECK are clever enough to add shade and light which stops the listening experience from becoming too difficult or samey. Three of the earlier singles are re-recorded here, now much fuller and in some instances featuring acoustic and orchestrated sections. When the barrage does die down somewhat, it’s filled by fantastically dirty and sludgy bass, such as in the track ‘Totem’.

The biggest surprise is the album closer ‘See The Old Lady Decently Buried Although Amongst Those Left Are You’ which over the course of sixteen minutes takes in what seems like every stage of the bands career before the latter half breaks down before building back up with a set of fantastically unexpected guitar solos. As a final track it’s a fantastic statement that allows HECK to be as experimental as sonically adventurous as they please on future recordings. - Louder Than War

Just as Heck’s debut ‘Instructions’ takes you on a journey, tonight’s show is quite the trip. Not only is it how you feel after one of their shows, ‘Good As Dead’ is Heck’s opening track. Mirroring the band, the sold out Borderline goes absolutely bananas. ‘Fastback’ clocks in at just over a minute long, played with vicious intensity, tonight the running time was just about halved. There’s no messing around.

Somewhere in the madness a guitar is snapped in half, it almost seemed like a non-event, laughing it off the guitar is thrown to other side of the stage. An excitable Tom Marsh escaped from his kit and headed for the crowd, his trusty kick drum acting as a surfboard. A mess of leads, guitars and mic stands follow the boys across the rooms on their adventures, “Hey Paul, look at the people over here”. Matt Reynolds can hardly believe the amount of people watching his band.

The mammoth ‘I. See The Old Lady Decently II. Buried Although III. Amongst Those Left Are You’ closes the set and with it brings the most stage dives all night, the hardest riffs and a fitting sense of finality. The quiet moments see the whole crowd sit down, lighters up style. After a much needed rest that solo hits, a few more minutes of bonkers action and it’s time to end. Taking their place on top of the sound desk, the centre of the floor and lastly the stage, the night’s final words are let out. “This isn’t over. This will never be over!”.

Catching his breath Reynolds cannot hide his appreciation, “This isn’t just the best show of the tour, it’s the best show of our fucking careers!” Need I say more? - Punktastic