If you’re at least a casual fan of my reviews or personally know me you’re aware of my wide range of genres of music I listen to.  I’ve been a fan of Long Island, NY’s Bile since their 1994 debut – Suck Pump.  Bile play industrial metal and if you’re a fan of Ministry, early Fear Factory, Skinny Puppy, Godflesh, NIN, Front 242 you should have at least heard of Bile by now.  Bile are on the heavier side of things, with ultra-distorted guitars, singing about the human race as pieces of shit, and will mix up fast and slow songs with a plethora of industrial sized samples.  They do not release full-length albums as often as I would like and their last full-length, the outstanding Built To Fuck, Born To Kill was released 8 years ago. So an ep is better than nothing,  I suppose and with Sharks And Covid, Vol.1 I wonder if a Vol. 2 is in the works – but I’d rather get that full-length because Bile are one of my favorite bands.  I was fortunate to see them on Long Island in 1996 and they had a wild show with lights/lasers and shit.  Krztoff is the branchild of Bile and I have thought he’s a musical genius for so long.

“Heavy On Me” starts with some samples with the light sounds of the drum machine snare and some super cool sounds.  The song has a great bouncy feel, with enough distortion to tear your soul in half.  The signature guitar tone is killer and Krztoff’s distorted maniacal vocals come in and the undercurrent of fuzzy bass guitar sounds awesome.  The main guitar riff is very catchy and the bounciness returns to end the song.  “Shark Frenzy At Brooklyn Beach” is a hysterically named song.  Many samples and a nice distorted jumpy heaviness erupts and more samples of bells and people screaming and fast drum machine double bass sampling.  This track should be a soundtrack for a horror movie, it would fit in perfectly.  The only real vocals are the repeating of the song title multiple times, but it works well and Krztoff barks at us, as if he’s murdering your soul.

“M H T D” is up next and absolutely rules.  The opening guitar riff sounds eerily like the main guitar riff during the chorus of “Bad Karma” off Bile’s Demonic Electronic (their most evil sounding album) from 2002.  I do not mind since the riff is one of Bile’s best ever.  Anyway the ridiculous speed of the drum machine double bass and the song going full throttle into a blast beat, then slowing down and that goddamned riff  – I just want to punch things.  Bile have always played more on the violent side of things and this song is no different.  Excellent distorted vocals, bass, riffs and programmed samples.  Some nice atmospheric moments halfway in, reminding me of early NIN.  Then the speed comes back and then more industrial samples come on in to end the song.  With industrial metal, my only gripe is the noise tracks.  I do not consider them real songs and Bile will usually release a bunch of these songs on their releases.  “NYC Variant” is the lucky named noise track.  This is more designed as an instrumental, rather than some of the noise/sampled tracks on previous releases.  For me though – no offense, Bile, they are always a bore and I never go back to listening to them ever again.  Personally, I’d much rather hear another properly designed song, rather than these other throwaway songs.

“Children Of The Gun” was a recent single so I figured let me throw it on here, especially because I think this song may be on Bile’s forthcoming full-length.  Distorted riffs and vocals open the song and the guitar tone is damn heavy.  Nice catchy chorus of the song title being repeated and super cool samples thrown in too.  A nice single, on the slower side, but still creating that moody industrial atmosphere.

The main ep Sharks And Covid, Vol.1 is very cool.  The “NYC Variant” tune is a complete throwaway, but the other songs are excellent Bile songs, with “M H T D” being the best out of the lot.  It’s aggressive, mean, heavy and most of all, what Bile does unlike those above mentioned bands, it’s evil!  Bile always had a sinister sound to their style and that is what also makes them quite original.  The production is great.  Samples come in clear and that fuzzy guitar tone really kills on this.  Hey, Bile has been around for decades, are still killing it and go out and get this download and let’s get that full-length album Bile!

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