Botch - The BANGERS Method Ranking
BOTCH - The BANGERS Method ranking
On this entry, we're going to look at a band that are certainly not as well known as what we've looked at so far, but are vitally important to modern heavy music. Botch were a metal / hardcore band from Tacoma, WA and were active in the late 90s and early 2000s. The band helped pioneer a more technical, complex form of hardcore, involving complex patterns and odd time signatures, which came be to known as mathcore, and their influence is still felt today in modern bands like Architects, Biffy Clyro and Norma Jean.
Whilst the band are no more, breaking up in 2002, members continued to make music in bands such as Russian Circles, Narrows, These Arms Are Snakes, Minus The Bear and Roy and Hydra Head Records reissued their full discography in recent years. You can visit the band at Bandcamp here and pick up their music digitally.
Whilst the band are no more, breaking up in 2002, members continued to make music in bands such as Russian Circles, Narrows, These Arms Are Snakes, Minus The Bear and Roy and Hydra Head Records reissued their full discography in recent years. You can visit the band at Bandcamp here and pick up their music digitally.
As usual, we're going to start in reverse order, with the least essential album release first, all the way through to their masterpiece, with scoring as per the BANGERS method, which is outlined right here. As usual, the notable tracks are listed with each release, with the BANGERS in bold.
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4. Unifying Themes Redux [2002/2006]
BANGERS Rating: 0.353
Notable Tracks: Closure, EBB, Sudam, The Opera Song, The Lobster Song
A compilation of the bands early EP releases, The John Birch Conspiracy and Faction, alongside tracks from various splits and comps, Unifying Themes Redux, itself a reissue of The Unifying Themes of Sex, Death and Religion is a mixed bag. Whilst the tracks are decent enough, on the whole they’re not a patch on the later Matt Bayles produced records. There’s hints of what’s to come on the record on tracks like Closure, which whilst it does come off a bit like a hardcore band covering Helmet, there’s a lot of the Botch to come in there too, with the quiet/loud dynamics and the heavy, punishing riffs that close the track out.
EBB is another highlight, a blazing metalcore screamer with some incredible drum patterns and a bass led dynamic shift in the track which makes the kick back into the heavy stuff immensely satisfying. The rest of the early material does get a bit one dimensional, and whilst still good solid listening, there’s nothing that really stands out. From the later recordings, there’s an early version of We Are The Romans’ Frequency Ass Bandit (here as Frequenting Mass Transit), which whilst a belter of a song, is better served by its final form. Sudam is an instrumental track, assumingly from the same final sessions that yielded An Anthology of Dead Ends, but I find it to be a highlight of this collection. There’s an incredible groove that runs through the track, and it’s nice to be able to hear the full instrumentation minus Dave Verellen’s vocals, allowing that interplay and complexity the space to shine through.
This compilation also contains two infamous covers that the band had put out, namely The Opera Song and The Lobster Song. The Opera Song, aka O Fortuna from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana was originally on The John Birch Conspiracy, and whilst it’s overblown and kind of stupid, it’s also a maddeningly fun cover. In the hands of another band, this could be self-indulgent nonsense, but here, with the rapid fire snare fills and big gong hits, it’s impossible to take it seriously, and you get the idea that they weren’t either. The Lobster Song, aka The B-52s’ Rock Lobster is a belter of a cover. Pulling off the same intensity and fun that The Dillinger Escape Plan put into their covers, this track is a real highlight, even if it isn't an artistic high point. Not exactly a serious song to begin with, Botch pull out all the stops, with cowbells, hand claps, screamed backing vocals and that riff all combining into three minutes of what is essentially a hardcore punk pop song. All in all, it’s a collection worth listening to, but it’s probably one for the completionists.
EBB is another highlight, a blazing metalcore screamer with some incredible drum patterns and a bass led dynamic shift in the track which makes the kick back into the heavy stuff immensely satisfying. The rest of the early material does get a bit one dimensional, and whilst still good solid listening, there’s nothing that really stands out. From the later recordings, there’s an early version of We Are The Romans’ Frequency Ass Bandit (here as Frequenting Mass Transit), which whilst a belter of a song, is better served by its final form. Sudam is an instrumental track, assumingly from the same final sessions that yielded An Anthology of Dead Ends, but I find it to be a highlight of this collection. There’s an incredible groove that runs through the track, and it’s nice to be able to hear the full instrumentation minus Dave Verellen’s vocals, allowing that interplay and complexity the space to shine through.
This compilation also contains two infamous covers that the band had put out, namely The Opera Song and The Lobster Song. The Opera Song, aka O Fortuna from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana was originally on The John Birch Conspiracy, and whilst it’s overblown and kind of stupid, it’s also a maddeningly fun cover. In the hands of another band, this could be self-indulgent nonsense, but here, with the rapid fire snare fills and big gong hits, it’s impossible to take it seriously, and you get the idea that they weren’t either. The Lobster Song, aka The B-52s’ Rock Lobster is a belter of a cover. Pulling off the same intensity and fun that The Dillinger Escape Plan put into their covers, this track is a real highlight, even if it isn't an artistic high point. Not exactly a serious song to begin with, Botch pull out all the stops, with cowbells, hand claps, screamed backing vocals and that riff all combining into three minutes of what is essentially a hardcore punk pop song. All in all, it’s a collection worth listening to, but it’s probably one for the completionists.
3. American Nervoso [1999]
BANGERS Rating: 0.833
Notable Tracks: Hutton's Great Heat Engine, John Woo, Dali's Praying Mantis, Oma, Thank God For Worker Bees, Hives
Their debut proper, American Nervoso is a marked progression from the older material compiled on Unifying Themes. There’s a clearer definition in the music, partly down to a different song writing style, with most of the album in the more technical style that they would refine on We Are The Romans rather than the more straightforward metalcore of before, but primarily down to the production of Matt Bayles. It absolutely allows the band to shine and the remastered version of the album from 2009 highlights this even further.
Never one for a slow build, the album launches straight into the big riffs of Hutton’s Great Heat Engine, with the band sound tracking the destruction of an erupting volcano, careering breathlessly into album highlight John Woo. One of the most iconic guitar parts of their output, the bending, sustaining riff that serves almost as a chorus is an almost perfect example of how Dave Knudson was at the heart of that core Botch sound. Dali’s Praying Mantis carries the ferocity along, with the back and forth of the guitar and bass building a rhythm that’s arguably at home on the dance floor, before hammering into a big double kick breakdown that never fails to get the feet tapping. Dead For a Minute is a bit of calm before the storm that is Oma, a frantic two minute blast of metal that descends into aching feedback tones and pianos, showing shades of some of the ambience in their later work.
Thank God For Worker Bees starts as an almost industrial sounding track, scooped out drums and synthetic sounding guitars combine into an Atari Teenage Riotesque build up before the bass drops back in and chaos ensues. You can hear the influence of bands like Helmet and Unsane a lot in this record, whether it’s through the build of repetition or the way the accuracy and the pattern of down strokes, drums and harmonics combine with pinpoint precision, and this track is a stellar example of that. Hives concludes the record and the furious and violent playing, seemingly on the cusp of falling apart, pulls together into a thunderous riff to close the album. Excellent stuff.
Never one for a slow build, the album launches straight into the big riffs of Hutton’s Great Heat Engine, with the band sound tracking the destruction of an erupting volcano, careering breathlessly into album highlight John Woo. One of the most iconic guitar parts of their output, the bending, sustaining riff that serves almost as a chorus is an almost perfect example of how Dave Knudson was at the heart of that core Botch sound. Dali’s Praying Mantis carries the ferocity along, with the back and forth of the guitar and bass building a rhythm that’s arguably at home on the dance floor, before hammering into a big double kick breakdown that never fails to get the feet tapping. Dead For a Minute is a bit of calm before the storm that is Oma, a frantic two minute blast of metal that descends into aching feedback tones and pianos, showing shades of some of the ambience in their later work.
Thank God For Worker Bees starts as an almost industrial sounding track, scooped out drums and synthetic sounding guitars combine into an Atari Teenage Riotesque build up before the bass drops back in and chaos ensues. You can hear the influence of bands like Helmet and Unsane a lot in this record, whether it’s through the build of repetition or the way the accuracy and the pattern of down strokes, drums and harmonics combine with pinpoint precision, and this track is a stellar example of that. Hives concludes the record and the furious and violent playing, seemingly on the cusp of falling apart, pulls together into a thunderous riff to close the album. Excellent stuff.
2. An Anthology of Dead Ends [2002]
Notable Tracks: Japam, Framce, Afghamistam, Vietmam
An Anthology Of Dead Ends was the final set of songs that Botch put out, half written tracks and ideas for the next album that never came to fruition. There tracks aren’t even named, just countries with the letter M switched for N. That doesn’t mean the music isn’t up to scratch though, this is a marvellous collection of music. Clearly following on from the sound and themes of We Are The Romans, the EP starts with an warping, bendy riff they could never fit into a track in Spaim, before dropping into the absolute BEHEMOTH that is Japam. Honestly, Japam is so good it makes the bands that have come after them sound like children on tennis rackets and saucepans. The drop out / drop in of that simple guitar / drum part around the 2:00 mark is so good it’ll make your balls tingle, and the barely concealed rage and disdain in the vocals is palpable.
Vietmam is straight into it as well, some incredible drumming from Tim Latona driving the first half of the track, before the tempo drops down into a bass lead sludgey groove. Afghamistam is a big departure from their previous output, an atmospheric, bass led almost spoken word piece, with pianos and dissonant guitars rounding out the piece. It's a shame that internal strife and differences ended the band, because based on this EP, the next album could have been something very special indeed.
Vietmam is straight into it as well, some incredible drumming from Tim Latona driving the first half of the track, before the tempo drops down into a bass lead sludgey groove. Afghamistam is a big departure from their previous output, an atmospheric, bass led almost spoken word piece, with pianos and dissonant guitars rounding out the piece. It's a shame that internal strife and differences ended the band, because based on this EP, the next album could have been something very special indeed.
1. We Are The Romans [1999]
BANGERS Rating: 0.950
Notable Tracks: To Our Friends In The Great White North, Mondrian Was A Liar, C. Thomas Howell as the "Soul Man", Saint Matthew Returns To The Womb, Frequency Ass Bandit, Transitions From Persona To Object, Man The Ramparts
We Are The Romans is an incredible record, the final full length of Botch’s short career and arguably the finest example of “mathcore” ever put on to record. From the blistering To Our Friends In The Great White North through to the epic Man The Ramparts, the album is a masterclass in technical heavy music. There’s no wanky guitar solos or bass noodling, this is precise, driven, f*cking balls out aggression performed to perfection. Most importantly though, unlike a lot of complex heavier music, as throughtout their whole output, they actually sound like they’re having fun. Dave Knudson’s guitar playing on the album is mind blowing, deceptively simple sounding, managing to be clean and heavy at the same time and it’s central to the success of the record.
There’s moments on the album that make you almost want to shake your head in disbelief, the breakdown after the bridge in Saint Matthew Returns To The Womb, the band kicking back in after the almost Gregorian ambience of Man The Ramparts, the angular cut of the guitars in C. Thomas Howell as the "Soul Man", all both goosebump and headbang inducing. The rest of the band aren’t exactly slouching, the whole record is as tight as anything, taking that influence of bands like Helmet and Drive Like Jehu less in the riffs like the older records, but more in that drive for precision in their playing and recording.
Lyrically, as usual they’re covering wide themes such as blue collar working men being erased by technology in Mondrian Was A Liar, posturing preachy hardcore bands on C. Thomas Howell… and the doctrine of religion on Saint Matthew Returns To The Womb. Dave Verellen's performance on this record is fantastic, showing range and tone, switching between screaming and a Fugazi style talk/sing where appropriate. All of this combines to make a truly essential record for anybody interested in heavy, interesting music.
There’s moments on the album that make you almost want to shake your head in disbelief, the breakdown after the bridge in Saint Matthew Returns To The Womb, the band kicking back in after the almost Gregorian ambience of Man The Ramparts, the angular cut of the guitars in C. Thomas Howell as the "Soul Man", all both goosebump and headbang inducing. The rest of the band aren’t exactly slouching, the whole record is as tight as anything, taking that influence of bands like Helmet and Drive Like Jehu less in the riffs like the older records, but more in that drive for precision in their playing and recording.
Lyrically, as usual they’re covering wide themes such as blue collar working men being erased by technology in Mondrian Was A Liar, posturing preachy hardcore bands on C. Thomas Howell… and the doctrine of religion on Saint Matthew Returns To The Womb. Dave Verellen's performance on this record is fantastic, showing range and tone, switching between screaming and a Fugazi style talk/sing where appropriate. All of this combines to make a truly essential record for anybody interested in heavy, interesting music.
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So there you have it, our ratings of the full Botch discography. If you don't know the band, check them out, and if you do know their music, let me know in the comments or on social media @bangersmethod how you feel about it, did I get it wrong? Have I overlooked a gem of a song? If you want to send me your own scores, please do, you can find the template here, send them over to me at thebangersmethod@gmail.com and I’ll add them to the blog post.
All of the tracks mentioned as notable above have been compiled as a Spotify playlist (where available), and you can find that here too, and this is how the notable tracks are split across the bands discography.
As An Anthology of Dead Ends isn't available via Spotify, live versions have been added where possible.
As An Anthology of Dead Ends isn't available via Spotify, live versions have been added where possible.
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