If you’re looking for something in your face, chaotic and experimental then ‘Extinction Burst!’ from Leeds duo Guttersnipe could be the album for you. If you like a tune or a melody however, you’ll be struggling with this 6 track clusterfuck. This is what happens when you ask AI to produce an album with the foundations of Guerilla Toss and the execution of Michael J Fox in a tumble dryer.
It’s not an exaggeration when I say that this album is one of the most uncomfortable listening experiences I’ve ever had. Not because of any sobering, existential themes or groundbreaking or epic musical ideas mind. It’s just a loud, abrasive squeal of a record and unfortunately I don’t care for it at all.
Not to say the musicians didn’t put the effort in. The drums are pummelling and fierce, the vocals are powerful. The constant shrieking in particular is delivered with passion, even if it does sound like some kind of banshee/witch woman stubbing her toe and realising she can’t find her car keys at the same time. (Might be taken as a compliment to be fair but I don’t know). It does get in your face and assault the ears. It doesn’t, however, have a consistent throughline or a worthy musical style to portray.
The six tracks kind of blend into one another and not in a satisfying conceptual way, everything just sounds the same and doesn’t seem to want to move away from a rather extreme and difficult to process formula. At times it sounds like a pan throwing competition in a small underground bunker where only serial killers and their victims are allowed to take part. If they were going for ear bleed, electro death metal meets intentional squalor core, “I don’t know what to do with myself” disease, then they’ve given it a decent crack. It’s a shame then it all sounds made up on the spot and has no coherent rhythm or aesthetic to get behind.
It’s no ‘You Won’t Get What You Want’ by Daughters for example. A record that is in your face, angry, cynical and vengeful. The bass and drumming in particular providing a grounding for the listener, a hypnosis to feel safe in whilst the unique vocal deliveries and shrieking, stabbing guitars pierce the listener’s psyche. “Long Road, No Turns” and “The Flammable Man” are good examples of this. Fantastic record.
I use Daughters as an example because Guttersnipe do appear to want to challenge the listener like Alexis F Marshall and Co. does. I would say ‘Extinction Burst!’ however, does this in quite a shallow way.
Maybe I don’t understand it, maybe it’s too much for me. I like to think I’m a fan of the extreme and genre pushing in many different styles. I love Swans, Throbbing Gristle, Sissy Spacek (the band not the woman), Nails, Cattle Decapitation, Jane Remover, 100 Gecs etc. Artists who can produce a lot of noise and to the untrained ear, a bloody god-awful racket that needs to be stopped immediately! Maybe Guttersnipe challenged me too much. That being said, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a piss take.
I’m genuinely interested in seeing them live, although after this, I don’t think I’d be welcome. Not that they know who I am or what I look like and I don’t think they’d actually give a shit anyway. But I do want to see how it pans out live, and whether actual pan throwing, is involved. This music definitely gives a strong message of we do whatever the fuck we want though and you know what, I respect that. Vada! Vada!
I just think this record lacks a single hook or any kind of outstretched musical claw to keep you engaged. It feels like wasted potential to be honest; they do know how to play their instruments and have the balls to not conform and at least give the impression of experimentation. I think they’ve taken it to the absurd here though.
It’s like a band you’d see in a movie or TV show that the protagonist doesn’t get at all and winces at but the love interest jumps up and down at the gig and vapidly shouts, “woohoo”. Think Chris O’Dowd’s character in the almost unknown short-lived sitcom ‘FM’ for example. He promises a woman he’ll play her band on the radio in order get her into bed, only to realise on hearing them that they’re absolutely dog shit, batshit, catshit insane. It’s like a parody of anything the “work colleague” types surmise about what people like you and I, actually enjoy and listen to; anything with a hint more realism than a Coldplay, a Swift or a Bunson Booned or whatever that cunt’s name is. I digress.
You’ve probably noticed I haven’t mentioned any of the tracks here and quite frankly, it’s pointless listing them. There isn’t one single “song” here with content worth highlighting as something to check out other than the mention before of decent drums and a vocalist who is definitely heard. If you’re a fucking mentalist who likes “Xenofeminist crisis-energy rock”, then be my fucking guest. If not, it’s a hard skip from me if you’re interested in anything a bit leftfield or strange.
It’s not Swans. It’s a dead Swan, which somehow drowned. Not long after taking a shit.
Guttersnipe: Extinction Burst! – Released 8 May 2026 (Night School)
Liverpool born music writer with passion for punk and Everton FC
