On Saturday, Invade (stylized “INVADE”) released a soundtrack for the pandemic era. Cries of despair, unexpected turns and jarring noise make up the 10-minute nightmare of a demo. A trio of notorious Tampa punk, metal and grind players released the aberration, and it’s not for the faint of heart.
The first track, “I” (all six tracks are marked by Roman numerals) begins deceptive and slow, with feedback from guitarist Giani Martinez ringing out, while Stratton Roberts crafts an ominous bass build-up. Drummer Tim Anderson’s screams cut the creeping serenade short and all hell breaks loose.
At times, the demo is reminiscent of Japanese punk bands such as Confuse and The Swankys, with scum punk marching beats matched by guitar riffs for glue huffers. Just when you’re starting to dream about getting dyed liberty spikes and drinking sake in the gutter, the punk vibes are quickly cut off by grinding, explosive segments, bringing to mind speed-driven monoliths such as Siege and Terrorizer.
The distorted and delayed vocals sound like Anderson is being dropped in fire over and over again. The final and longest track, “VI” pushes the listener to the brink of extinction, with nearly five minutes of relentless drums, screams and a repetitive, haunting guitar riff.
The transitions and freakish combination of genre styles make this demo an delight for the sufficiently deranged; the release is properly reflective of the unpredictable madhouse that has become our day to day lives.
Anderson, Martinez and Roberts wrote these tracks in 2016, but it wasn’t until 2019 that they recorded, because they’ve been in a number of other projects. They’ve all played in the grind band Spit (stylized “SPIT”) at one point or another, Martinez played guitar in the death metal band Carnal Ruin, Anderson and Roberts played in MTVH1N1.
Anderson wrote the lyrics for Invade. When asked what message the demo is sending he said, “Your actions weaken the harder you hit your keyboard, flex your muscle before atrophy takes hold.”
If you’re ready for the wild ride, stream Invade or buy a tape via Bandcamp, which is waiving its revenue share on May 1 so that artists can make more money from sales.
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