Contra

Under the wing of Kitchener’s DIY label, Dtrash Records, Contra serves up an assault on the senses. This is not an album that will be turning heads, but sole-member E. Coli’s efforts deserve an honourable mention as originally savage bits of non-music. Enter the Winter does not just mix up elements of drum & bass, hardcore techno and rhythmic noise, but rather chews them up and vomits them back out. This is aggressive noise music with a futuristic feel, with the catchy melodies and barrage of migraine driven synth in "Faiths in Decline,” the best track. The release is not perfect however and the downsides include being quite rough around the edges, as well as featuring a lack of complexity on many tracks — a problem attempted to be fixed by throwing in too many layers of noise and not enough substance. Also, some songs grow tiring and repetitive quite quickly, even for a genre that’s very nature involves repetition. E. Coli has brought forth an experiment meant only for lovers of highly toxic mechanical savagery and the labour behind this release deserves some appreciation.