Last updated: 6 days ago
Initially founded as No Way in 2012, the core trio of guitarist Jordan Melkin, bassist Dave Maffei, & drummer Chris Enriquez (now Andrew Gottlieb) explored a noisy post-punk inspired by the guitar daredevilry of Drive Like Jehu before embracing the crushing riffage of their bludgeon-rock forebears like Unsane and Deadguy. Dirgy psychedelia found its way into the mix — all of this forged from the heaviest of metal. Adding singer Chuck Berrett and adopting the name HAAN from a complex Korean term signifying collective feelings of isolation, injustice, melancholy, and insurmountable oppression, they announced their existence in 2014 with the brutal E.P. "Sing Praises." It's a piledriver; dark, dirty, punishing, but richly complex, sharp-sounding, & utterly riveting. Finland's Kaos Kontrol label, released a vinyl edition. HAAN's new album, "By the Grace of Blood & Guts," is out on Aqualamb records, a label that's distinguished itself by releasing albums accompanied by 100-PG books. Maffei & drummer Enriquez deftly manage the twin tasks of battery and fluidity while Melkin punctuates savage riffing with noisy passages that recall the mind-bending guitar needling of Daughters. Berrett channels a range of effective vocal stylings from that recall everything from the brawny expressiveness of Iron Maiden's Paul Di'Anno all the way to the rhythmic incantations of Clutch's Neil Fallon, & his way with a turn of phrase is undeniable as he conjures HAAN's fight songs for the apocalypse.
