You toss the “formed by members of” tag in front of so many bands, and it often ends up feeling like a resting-on of laurels at best and a “Hey, give us a pass if it sucks, alright? This isn’t our real band anyway!” at worst. But when the ranks of FALSE FED’s “…members of” include members of DISCHARGE, BROKEN BONES, AMEBIX and MINISTRY, you’ve got my attention at least.
Kicking off with JP Parsons’ pulsating bassline, snapping drums and a guitar that conjures the much-missed DEAD ARTIST SYNDROME, and MAGAZINE, but with Jeff “JJ” Janiak’s vocals holding more a punk, early BILLY IDOL lip-curled snarl, ‘Superficial’ already reveals a side the man not often seen elsewhere. ‘The Tyrant Dies’ reminds me that, even within SOULFLY (who I’ve rarely been able to stomach), the man’s a beast behind the kit, and the music fits the revolutionary aspect of both the cover art and ethic of the foursome, pissed off and revengeful.
There are echoes of SOL INVICTUS hither and yon throughout Let Them Eat Fake, elements of Projekt and Cleopatra Records bands, to be sure, clearly evident within ‘Echoes Of Compromise’, the strings of Stig C. Miller shifting like sands between slashing winds of a desert storm and the shimmering oasis in the distance for the survivors. I’m not sure how the guitar tone of the driving ‘Dreadful Necessities’ was born, but be assured, I’ll be attempting some alchemical magics to approximate its almost strangled, writhing sonics.
Drawing to a close with the spoken and somber resignation of ‘The One Thing We Cannot Avoid’, Let Them Eat Fake introduces FALSE FED as much more than a space filler in the quartet’s careers. At just shy of a half-hour’s playing time, this debut leaves us as all first outings should. Satisfied and slightly intrigued for what the future may hold.
Review By: Lord Randall
FALSE FED
Let Them Eat Fake
Neurot Recordings