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Despite having broken up more than 10 years ago, 108's music is new to me. As such, I'll save the history lesson for a band about which I already know something, and I'll be clear: Creation. Sustenence. Destruction., excluding a few 108 covers, is my first exposure to the innovative, angular hardcore -- some might prefer "Krishnacore" -- band's music.
To call Creation. Sustenence. Destruction. a mere exposure to the band, though, would be misleading and inaccurate. This is 108. All of the band's recordings are collected and compiled in two discs, which amount to more than 90 minutes of material. While I've listened through every last minute of the compilation's 36 songs, it's got its impressive peaks and meandering lows; surely, it's not the type of record one makes a point of listening through on a daily basis.
Not both discs, at least.
The first of two, which features 1996's Threefold Misery and the same year's Curse of Instinct, comprises 108's most accessible and outright aggressive material. The band melts together a fiery, fast-paced foundation in scathing hardcore, mid-paced post-hardcore tendencies, metallic and dissonant twists, and borderline peculiar experimental riffs and rhythms. Front man Rob Fish usually follows the music by covering the most biting sounds with straightforward, belted-out shouts and the slower passages with something between speaking and singing. The general juxtaposition of traditional and progressive not only sounds much better balanced than anything on the second disc, it continuously reminds listeners that 108 was creating something new and running ahead of their time.
The 24-track second disc is scattered with good songs and some really awesome parts, but the churning, medium tempos and sometimes minimal, sometimes bizarre guitar riffing make it drag, and drag, and drag. Seemingly covering a lot of ground, the longer songs steadily meander from place to place. It's more of an aimless meandering, though, as those tracks pass without leaving anything memorable in their paths.
Let's be fair. One can't expect to listen to a band's entire body of recorded work and like every bit of it. Hell, I might only revisit Creation. Sustenence. Destruction.'s second disc before the year ends. It's that grating. Still, this record is going for the price of a single-disc full-length and features a stunning, detailed visual presentation, complete with a history of 108 and slick photos.
There's not much better of a way to spend $10 than on a progressive, influential and innovatie hardcore band's discography. Besides, the first disc alone justifies the price.
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