Cruel Experience are an Italian band doing the post rock thing. Well, post rock in a revisionist sense anyway as veneration of the sounds of the past is well and truly upon this band’s agenda. However, this mishmash of influences works well for the duration of “Lives of Ugly Demons” with Cruel Experience demonstrating that they have no shortage of energy and enthusiasm for the task in hand.
Of the songs, two in particular stick in the memory. There is a certain nihilism present in “Bite The Light” that, perversely, allows the song to traverse the darkness in search of a tempo changing solution that would lead the band back to the light. That might sound like theatrical posturing but mix it up with a radical amount of volume and this seven minute song pounds you into submission. In comparison, “Bad Moon” starts out like a parody of the kind of rock song that made the west coast of the US of A holiday destination for those in search of musical inspiration yet the sweaty confusion inherent in the vocals takes you instead on a trip powered by the Italian equivalent of peyote.
Cruel Experience, despite filling their leather boots with the rocks of the past, clearly have new tricks to play on your ears and “Lives Of Ugly Demons” thus becomes entertaining listening for those who still possess imagination.
The album is available from Bandcamp.