Brutus rage like a maelstrom. They are a meteor shower of sound. This trio from Leuven, Belgium create expansive, stratospheric punk not quite like any other band around. With post-rock construction, black metal dynamics, hardcore energy, prog and math-rock flourishes and pure pop melodies all detectable on their debut album Burst, Brutus manage to straddle the significant divide between Slayer and Savages, The Smiths and Slowdive, Dillinger Escape Plan and Deus - and all with just three members expertly colluding to make a sound as monolithic as it is emotive. The searing, soaring guitars of shoegaze are amped up to hardcore punk speed, drums gallop like wild horses over open larval planes and drumming singer Stefanie Mannaerts offers some of the most impassioned vocals heard in recent times, capable of shifting from deceptively melodic to out-right larynx-punishing in the blink of an eye. In 2014 and 2015 they played mostly all over Belgium. Pukkelpop, Rock Herk, Dour Festival, Boomtown, AB Club, Botanique, Depot, Stuk, Trix, ... and more than 100 intense small shows. In April 2016 Brutus decamped to Vancouver (Can) to record their debut-album Burst with Jesse Gander (White Lung, Japandroids, …). It was a wise move. Burst is a 21st century rock album: challenging and exhilarating. Colossal. A cathedral-sized noise. A unique listening experience, released by Hassle Records. Brutus are here.
