EP Review: Berenice – Berenice (APF Records)

Emerging from the heart of East Anglia, Berenice are soon to become a relentless force in the underground music scene, blending hardcore, sludge, crust, and grind into a ferocious sonic onslaught. The quintet cite Nails, Gatecreeper, Black Breath, Power Trip, and All Pigs Must Die as influences.

Formed in early 2023, the band wasted no time in carving their path with jaw dropping locals shows, before recording a raw and unapologetic debut self-titled EP set for release on August 16th, 2024, under the banner of APF Records.

Liable to make your teeth ache, your limbs flail, and your heart to race to the point where you might think something is wrong. This is just some of the reactions your body will experience upon listening to Bernice, and that’s before we even take into account the mental toil this debut EP takes on the mind.

What we have here is an EP of addictive chaos, built on the bedrock of metal, but with infusions of the more extreme side of things, and complimented by hardcore butchery. Bernice want to leave an impression, and across the five examples of mania that is this EP, they thoroughly succeed.

Violently fast and furiously heavy, Problems and Reflections are both killer examples of what has just been stated. You can learn a hell of a lot about the level of nastiness that Bernice can go to with these tracks. Although, as far as sheer coarse noise goes, it’s Torment that raises the bar. Especially as this one has some of excitable heavy groove too.

Finally, it’s the double head banging inducing combo of Broken and Sorrow. The former, a pitting song if there ever was one, and the latter, Bernice at their strongest, on an EP that is wall to wall strong bangers. Keep a really close eye on this band, the quality in this EP suggests they will be wrecking even more ears, necks, and venues going forward.

Bernice – Bernice Track Listing:

1. Problems
2. Reflection
3. Torment
4. Broken
5. Sorrow

Links

Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | APF Records