Cassette Review // Human Adult Band "Beyond the Time Barrier Travelers" (Already Dead Tapes)

$6 //
Edition of 100 //
https://alreadydeadtapes.bandcamp.com/album/beyond-the-time-barrier-travelers //

The Human Adult Band begins with some wilding drumming which brings on the sound of sludge.   This has a fast pace but seems to be moving slowly at the same time, which kind of freaks me out.   This whole cassette was recorded live so we hear those sharp notes from the microphones that you typically hear at any live performance.   A steady mesh of drums and cymbals now as we feel like a march turned into a growl.    As it feels like this one is brewing up a storm, I hear some yelling now.

This takes us into a deep dive now where there is this sound like an electric engine glitching.   The drums come back and just feels almost like an alarm on a submarine.    But it creates a powerful overall sound, like metal.    As vocals come in now this one begins to feel quite haunted, a true tale of metal.    Through long guitar riffs and bass lines now you can hear people talking, which takes me back to a time when people were allowed at shows- something which might change drastically in the coming months.  The next song, "Scurvy Seamen", is introduced by name and the rapid singing causes chaos on the ears.

"Loathing Loaf", the final song on the first side, also gets introduced by name and then begins with the thunder striking down and the guitar screeches which make me think of a band like Converge or Daughters.    The drumming on this is rather heavy and it's not often that you hear an artist where the drums feel like they take over the entire sound, but then it also has such a strong presence with the guitar, bass and even vocals.   Usually one of the sounds takes the front while the others blend together behind it but this music very much has everything at the front and in your face.

On the flip side we begin with more wild drumming, crowd noise and then this guitar riff which cuts through like metal.    This twists and turns through like slow metal and if there was ever a sound which existed between a band like the previously mentioned Daughters and Liturgy, this is what it might sound like.   Picking up a bit more of the pace, all of the sounds are coming together and it has more of a classic rock sound to it than metal now.    We drop off into some big chords but this just has more of a rock sound now, like Campground Effect, versus the metal that I was picking up on the previous side.   A little bit of Weep Wave in here as well.

We get a little bit darker now, as it feels like we're going into something closer to metal than the previous song.   This reminds me a bit, overall, of Mudhoney as well.   This particular song also happens to end with these bass drops like bubbles and it just makes for such an intense feeling.   Somehow now this has gotten lighter again and I'm thinking more of a band like The Casket Lottery, which perhaps just goes to show the range of Human Adult Band.    As this song also has a steady rock sound it also breaks down into chaos at the end.

This takes us into a more straight up rock song, a little like Nirvana, but now it's getting all swirly distorted inside the middle of what almost feels like a folk/country punk.   The vocals have a lot of grit to them as well, and it reminds me of that time Me First and the Gimme Gimmes put out a country album.  The guitar work gets so wild and every sound seems to be blended together so well right now; all of the pieces working together in perfect harmony to create ROCK.

We're now prodding through a song with that sleepwalking bass line and drums, then the guitars cut through like electricity.   It is definitely a psychedelic rip as well.    As the final song comes to an end I think not only about what a trip it has all been but how these are two live sets captured in time.  Each one has the dates, the other acts who played, etc. and it's nice to me in a way just to think of this as being a part of history but also sometimes you just have to put this one on, crank it up and rock out.