SiM
Playdead – Unified Music
Mixing various shades of metal (can you actually get shades of black?) with ska punk shouldn’t work at all. It’s a bit like adding bananas to a stew. Perfectly tasty in their own right but not it would seem a match made in heaven, or anywhere really. If the chefs in charge are Japanese masters though, and they understand just how much seasoning to add, well then you end up with ‘Playdead’. This is a quite remarkable work that has little hints of Korn, Skindred and The Clash in the mix and plenty more too. Heavy, melodic, dancey, fun and moving all at the same time, this is a set of songs that simply rocks. The one question you have to ask is how the hell is this their fifth album? How have SiM stayed (relatively) unknown until now outside of Japan? This surely will change very soon. The world needs much more of this band on its collective playlists.
Review by Gary Trueman