Apocaplexy Records

Hooray! I finally got copies of this 7“ today after it originally came out in March. I am a fan of this band’s demo, which I meant to review on CZ ages ago but never got round to it. It’s really nice to see a Malaysian band other than Utarid getting on a slab of vinyl too. Okay Orbitcinta Benjamin have been on a 12“ split release but that’s about it – there are LOTS of planned split releases between bands supposedly coming out on vinyl but some of these have been planned for a long time and have not materialised. I hope they do happen. It seems that in a niche genre Malaysian screamo still manages to find a very small corner (though not as much as South America) – it’s god damn amazing stuff but because screamo is so saturated it gets overlooked. I hope so much that these bands can make it over to Europe and beyond to tour at some point. As I put this 7“ on there is quite a big contrast with the Joan Baez record I was playing before it. Gone are the insanely beautiful vocals that Joan delivers and the nice and simple but pleasing to the ear finger picked guitar. Instead we have, well the insanely beautiful chaotic mess that is emo violence. The Monaco Heartattack here advance their sound from their demo. It’s still the same kind of stuff, fast, short and messy, but it just sounds somewhat improved. Listening to it on vinyl is perhaps one reason things are better – the instruments have a lot more force than when I listen to the demo tape or MP3s of the music. But just the overall song writing and chaos is a higher quality too. The guitars and drums combine well and the out of control screamed vocals sound great over the top. The unclean sound is precisely how it should be, whilst the lyrics are pretty simple but straight to the point and honest. Overall no complaints, it’s over pretty quickly (6 minutes) but that works pretty well with this sort of thing. I know the band are talking of releasing an LP, one thing I would say is that I think they need to get a bit more variance going for this to work well.
Oli Saunders | collective-zine.co.uk

Heftiges Vier-Song-Debüt der malaysischen Screamo-Hardcore-Band und zweite Veröffentlichung von Apocaplexy in schöner handgemachter Aufmachung. Viermal Stimmbänder am hohen Anschlag, dazu heftige Gitarrenbreitseiten, die in die 80er/frühen 90er gehören. Eine D.I.Y.-Band, die man im Auge behalten sollte.
8/10 | Matilda Gould | Ox #84 | ox-fanzine.de

another awesome emoviolence band from malaysia playin spazzed but melodic hardcore .. nice colored vinyl and just very few copies!
reactwithprotest.org

Five years of album reviews. That’s how long it took before this magazine received it’s first 7 inch and 12 inch vinyl records for review consideration. I don’t even own a vinyl player (come on, it’s 2009, not 1989), but as always is the case, somehow a method was found for us to check out original screamo band The Monaco Heartattack from Malaysia. Original screamo emerged from the hardcore punk scene of San Diego in early 90s, where bands began screaming their lungs out on top of a distinct hardcore punk musical platform, adding in experimental dissonance plus lots and lots of chaotic, uncontrollable vibes. As a genre it is much harsher than the screamo we know about today, and being associated more with punk than emo, true punk DIY ideology is audible in the production or rather lack thereof throughout. Think of bands like Saetia, Orchid, Hot Cross, Funeral Diner and United Nations and you basically have your foundation to understanding The Monaco Heartattack’s self-titled 7" record. Vinyl has its charm at some point, and I can understand why some people prefer its unique and characteristic sound to the perfect production of CD quality music. But lo-fi production unfortunately also means that the screaming, menacing though it is, comes across as little more than just indecipherable wraaghhh wraaghhh wraaghh in all five songs of the record. While I’m sure that’s the point in original screamo and I’m not saying it doesn’t add to The Monaco Heartattack’s ‘local band charm’, at some point I’d love to hear what these guys could do with a proper recording. If United Nations were able to do it, then so should this band. The only positive element about it is that the tiny bits of melody which have been injected amidst the ferocious chaos have a nice melodic ring to them. Although I’m sure that The Monaco Heartattack have no desire to sell a boatload of records or to go on big tours across the world, some ambition certainly wouldn’t hurt. It’s unfortunate enough that the band exists in Malaysia. No bad feelings, but it’s insanely hard to make a name when you don’t come from the main music markets, especially at a niche genre such as this. The fact that they seem to be only putting out stuff on vinyl, and that the five songs on this record take up just over six minutes of space makes things worse. So while being an entirely decent band in the original screamo genre, I don’t see the justification of giving this a higher grade than it receives, all things above being considered. For the fans of: United Nations, Saetia, Hot Cross, Funeral Diner
6½ | rockfreaks.net

Screamo-Slow-Core aus Johore in Malaysia. Wenn ich mir nicht die Myspace Seite der Band angesehen hätte, wäre ich vom reinen Sound her nie darauf gekommen, das es sich hier um eine Band aus Malaysia handelt. Wenn ich ehrlich bin, muss ich eingestehen, das ich a.) die Mucke schneller mag, und b.) ich auf Schreigesang überhaupt nicht stehe. Wie auch immer…diese 7" ist von Superfluous Records aus Magdeburg mit einem sehr geilen Layout versehen worden, das nicht allzu aufwändig gestaltet wurde, aber dennoch sehr effektiv aussieht. Von dieser 7" gibt es 52 Stück in durchsichtigen Vinyl, 46 in durchsichtigen orange-marble Vinyl und 156 in durchsichtigem blau-marble Vinyl…das nur mal so am Rande erwähnt. 4 Songs befinden sich auf dieser 7", die ziemlich fett im Studio aufgenommen wurden und sich wie ein langsamer Psycho-Lindwurm durch dein Hirn und deine Eingeweide frisst. Nichts für weiche Gemüter.
Helge | plastic-bomb.eu

Since I’m not really into this scene I thought it was best to do some research before I started with this review. Wikipedia – Screamo and Emo. It was really interesting because it is a genre who descend from the punk/hardcore scene. But I didn’t know about any of those bands who was list on Wikipedia, but I said it from the beginning, this is not my scene even if I like brutal and screamy hardcore. The Monaco Heartattack from Malaysia are signed up on a German label, and the scene seems to be strong in Germany. When I listen to the music I get strong vibes that Im into a dark forest, and yeah, if I didn’t know better I would probably count this music into black metal. My research also bring the question, are The Monaco Heartattack a band who lend all "true"/"early" emocore concept for their image or are they true by themselfes? It is vinyl/DIY/so emotional lyrics etc… I don’t know, but I guess they are true to their scene since they say "Death to false emo". I really like the music but the concept disturb me even if I try to be objective. An "Emo" is not really popular in Sweden, I don’t know how they are treated in other countries. I will not be surprised if The Monaco Heartattack will play on big festivals in Germany and France this summer because they are a band who make impressions, good or bad? That’s up to you to decide.
schizo fanzine #1