The St. Pierre Snake Invasion  - Flesh EP

  Like the infamous venom fuelled disaster they are named after, Bristol band The St. Pierre Snake Invasion release an unrelenting package of intense, pissed off spite with their debut EP Flesh. The original St. Pierre Snake Invasion was a historical event from 1902 when due to the eruption of a volcano on the island of St Pierre, Martinique, more than 100 fer-de-lance 6 ft. long snakes slithered down and invaded the mulatto quarter of St Pierre to avoid the flowing lava killing over 50 people before falling to the town’s giant street cats. Soon from the lava followed by a tsunami, all on St. Pierre were lost apart from two survivors; how much is fact bloated with myth who knows but the hard rockers The St. Pierre Snake Invasion as well as sharing the colourful name have produced sounds with the same devastating power and anger that was felt back then.

    Their sound is a dirty mulch of stoner rock, grunge, alternative rock, and garage punk.  Imagine the hellish bastard son of a union between Mastodon, Kyuss, Torche and QOTSA deflowered by The Cramps and you come closer to the satisfying pleasing explicit experience that is The St. Pierre Snake Invasion.  The quintet creates melodies that soothe and reassure whilst demented riffs and astringent noises attack and flay the ear.   

     The title track starts off the Flesh EP with a wonderful dirty groove, seeping and invading into the listener. It slowly winds up the pace as the track evolves though at no time from the opening note does it give anything but a driving forceful ride. Vocalist and songwriter Damien Sayell permeates the track with his delivery and the scuzzy sludge mix on his voice works perfectly with the sounds, here and throughout the release. The guitars of Carl Jones andSzack Notaro that slice into the track are impressive and creative whilst the drum s from Sam Forbes solidly forceful but it is the bass of Mark Fletcher that forges the powerful and irresistible grooves that mark this and each song on the EP. On the next track up Ales From The Crypt his stalking bass riff leads the way like a beacon for rock music flavouring an already awesome track into a classic. This is a complete band though, every part of the unit an equal reason why the music they produce is a reason to get up each morning and spend your hard earned pennies upon. This is the best track on the EP with its haunting vocal sound making a great complimentary contrast to the riffs and the deceptively simple melodies.

     Following on comes Safe and Sound, a frenzy of spit and anger in the vocal charge and hard punk sounds that disturbs the peace like a swinging crowbar, noise annoys perfectly. Their demented uncontrolled type of calm is restored with Innocent, well if calm can ever be applied to their music. The rhythms are bold, forceful and demanding and the guitars a perfectly chaotic blend of noise, melodic chords and crashing stabs, whilst the vocals from Sayell threatening and softly seductive in equal measure. Last Words Of A Bent Cop closes off the ride and is hypnotically brilliant. From the compulsive bass riff to the smart and playful guitars it throbs with an eagerness to please but only on their terms. As it started the EP closes with a direct attack on the senses but it is never harsh or at any time feels like anything but the most wanted experience.

     The Flesh EP should and will go down as not only the first time the world discovered the might of The St. Pierre Snake Invasion but also as a marker as to when rock music rediscovered its fresh originality and became truly interesting once more.