Bear Vs Shark Album: "Terrorhawk" Release Date: Jun 14, 2005 Label: Equal Vision Rev Value: [7.0/10] Genre: Rock Styles: Indie Rock, Hardcore Punk Buy It

Tracklist:

1 Catamaran (2:55)
2 5, 6 Kids (3:49)
3 Six Bar Phrase Hey Hey (0:28)
4 Great Dinosaurs With Fifties Section (3:09)
5 Baraga Embankment (3:13)
6 Entrance of the Elected (3:07)
7 Seven Stop Hold Restart (2:43)
8 What a Horrible Night for a Curse (3:51)
9 Out Loud Hey Hey (1:38)
10 India Foot (0:25)
11 Antwan (2:45)
12 I F****d Your Dad (3:31)
13 Heard Iron Bug, "They're Coming to Town" (2:39)
14 Song About Old Roller Coaster (6:01)
15 Rich People Say Yeah Hey Hey (3:45)

Running time - 43:59

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review by:Allmusic
reviewer: Johnny Loftus
Album Value: (4.5/5)

Terrorhawk delivers a thousand percent on the promise of Right Now, You're in the Best of Hands, Bear vs Shark's 2003 debut. It's an impassioned and anxious indie rock stomp with a straight line drawn to the tension and urgency of D.C. post-hardcore. But it also bleeds sensitivity, and has a novel's touch in its opaque yet highly evocative lyrics. Mark Paffi is a presence in the center -- he's not quite singing, but it's not a shout either, and this catch-all style is responsible for some of the album's most incredible melodies ("5, 6 Kids," "Entrance of the Elected"). Bear vs Shark also get a lot of mileage out of stopping and starting a blaring electric guitar, and get an assist from programming whiz Matthew Dear here and there. "Baraga Embankment" aligns brass instruments next to those guitars, "Seven Stop Hold Restart" and "Catamaran" channel Fugazi effectively, and "I F****d Your Dad" has a little bit of a Modest Mouse feel. There's a tangible depth to Terrorhawk. There's ballast in its songs, so they really sink in. It's that novelistic quality again -- it takes some doing to let it surround you. But by the time the six-minute "Song About Old Roller Coaster" comes around, the album's been through surging melodies ("5, 6 Kids" again), manically dense layers (the absolutely crazy "Heard Iron Bug, 'They're Coming to Town"), and slippery little interludes ("India Foot" sounds like a field recording from a video arcade), and you're in for the long haul. Powerful, visceral, rewarding, and just a little confounding, Bear vs Shark is a band with both sharp claws and razor teeth. Watch out -- the Terrorhawk will slice you good.

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review by:Pitchfork
reviewer: Brian Howe, June 15, 2005
Album Value: (7.7/10)

Post-hardcore is a slippery genre. If emo is commonly defined as "we know it when we hear it," maybe post-hardcore is "we know it when we can't hear anything after hearing it." But that's too easy; lots of music is loud. Maybe post-hardcore is what happens when people who are into hooks and melodies get into heavier styles like punk, metal, and hardcore. Post-hardcore kids listen to classic Metallica and hear the melody beneath the mayhem, the pop in the apoplexy. They listen to emo and imagine what those wobbly arpeggios would sound like with some real balls in the dynamic shifts, some buffness in the chordage.

You can hear some latter-day Wire in Bear Vs. Shark's linear, deeply textured riffs; there's some early Mission of Burma in their pronounced loud/soft dynamics and fist-pumping rhythmic maneuvers. But beneath Terrorhawk's ripped chords, frantic tempos and dudefaced vocals, there's a dewy-eyed indie rock record whimpering to be let out. Not that letting it out would've been advisable-- as it stands, the raw fury and insane energy level of the album stampedes right over the brain and booms down the spine.

Deeper than it initially sounds, Terrorhawk will send you scrambling for a few points of reference before you zero in on the right one. Trail of Dead? Not quite. Constantines? Closer...Soon it starts making sense how the ballads sit comfortably with the screamers, the uninflected melodic vocals with the shredded-larynx ones, the brainy leads with the knuckle-dragging chords: This is the spiritual heir to Cursive's Domestica, an indie-hardcore record that's interested in locating the violence inherent in the lullaby and the euphony in the scorched-earth anthem.(...)

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review by: Aversion online
reviewer: ???
Album Value: (7/10)

Another strange full-length from this unusual indie rock band that, if nothing else, is a step forward from their debut, which just didn't do it for me. I wouldn't particularly say that the band has as much of an individual sound this time around as the vocals are (thankfully) easier to digest here, and their brand of dry distortion, jangly chord progressions, and hectic vocals isn't alien to my ears at all, but there's still something different about them, so that's a nice touch. This time around most of the vocals are sort of running around between yelling and singing, but the vocal arrangements can get pretty energetic and wild, and the "singing" is rarely true singing, so don't expect soaring vocal harmonies or anything like that. I wish they hadn't gone the route of tossing in occasional keyboards just because I don't really hang with much of that form of the hipster quotient, though to their credit they keep that stuff very much under control (not to mention infrequent), so I can live with it. Offered up are 15 generally concise tracks in nearly 45 minutes, so even though it initially appears that there are way too many songs, the album actually moves along without a hitch. "Catamaran" kicks out a lot of speedy energy and quick fits of discordance right off the bat to grab your attention and nail the point home that the band's made some changes in their delivery, and then "5, 6 Kids" drops into plenty of pull-off riffs and power chord surges accented by quirky textures
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review by: Prefix Mag
reviewer:Etan Rosenbloom
Album Value: (3.5/4)

Bear vs. Shark’s frontman, Marc Paffi, scares the shit out of me. It’s not his appearance --the guy can’t be more than two foot seven, with a perfect fourth-grade bowl cut and an impish grin. It’s more that the dude could crack at any moment. Live, Paffi howls like a doberman and slithers through the audience without ever making eye contact, the microphone cord his only restraint against cannibalizing every last one of us. Even during the occasional quiet moments, the quaver in his voice suggests instability.

Bear vs. Shark’s terrific second album, Terrorhawk, conceived in a secluded cabin in northern Michigan, thrives on that instability. Overdriven guitars crackle with explosive potential, the drums seem to get faster and faster, and Paffi relentlessly pushes his vocals cords beyond their breaking point. The band barrels ferociously through every last chord change and drum fill, constantly threatening to lose control but miraculously keeping its shit together.

For much of Terrorhawk, Bear vs. Shark delivers the melodic post-hardcore goods like a woollier At the Drive-In, but the five-piece taps into the same ragged passion that made the Constantines’ Shine a Light so urgent. All these bands make music that moves. “5,6 Kids” is the sound of perpetual motion, with a cyclical guitar riff, polyrhythmic drum pattern and throbbing bass each searching for its own way to break free. When they all lock in on the thrilling chorus, Paffi wailing at the upper limit of his range, it’s clear that they’ve found release.

Even if there’s nothing here as kinetic as “Ma Jolie” from the band’s debut, Bear vs. Shark moves in some exciting new directions on Terrorhawk. The band expands its attack to include pianos, electronic interludes and even brass -- former Morphine saxophonist Dana Colley summons the spirit of Albert Ayler over a powerful four-chord vamp at the end of “Baraga Embankment. With the stunning “Song About Old Roller Coaster,” Bear vs. Shark perfects the art of the waltz-time power ballad. Take that, Nickelback.

Though they could get by on their blistering passion, the guys in Bear vs. Shark are smart enough to know that a pastoral melody or gruffly delivered hook can be just as potent as a scream. On Terrorhawk, we get all of the above. This is a band to watch.

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review by: Europunk
reviewer: Mikey
Album Value: (4/5)

It wouldn’t be fair to give this album the standard, lazy comparison to Fugazi-esque, Dischord Post-hardcore, although it certainly has all the hall-marks: the choruses indispersed with angular guitars and the occasional burst of brutality. But Bear Vs Shark have a certain uniqueness on this record that makes it stand out from the crowd.

This band obviously like to mix things up, and don’t drag out an idea. There is a real spectrum on display here – stripped down piano, the occasional use of atmospheric brass, a big nod to 80s/90s UK indie bands. And - most importantly - a healthy use of guitar noise, a measured mess of tremolo picking and frenzied riffs.

In fact, my only really problem with this album is that the album arrived with the type of pretentious artwork that told me nothing about what the fuck he is actually singing about. The song titles are as you might expect from a band called Bear Vs Shark – “The Great Dinosaurs With Fifties Section”, “What A Horrible Night For A Curse” and the genius of “I Fucked Your Dad”. Its all intriguing stuff.
Unfortunately the band have decided to go for that slightly trendy plan of placing the vocals deliberately partly hidden behind the guitars, and you are left to appreciate the distinct vocal tone rather than the lyrics themselves.

This slightly frustrating pretention and secretiveness aside, it is a great record for what it presumably aims to do – go in a lot of directions very quickly but always returning a certain, melancholy post-hardcore ethic.

It is likely that you have a good guess whether you’d like this band just by seeing their name, but if bands with names like Bear Vs Shark usually do it for you, this album won’t disappoint.

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review by: Rocknworld
reviewer: Mark Hensch
Album Value: (5/5)

Hailing right from my home state of Michigan, it is with a particular sense of pride that I have watched the five-piece avant-garde post rock outfit Bear Vs. Shark evolve. Their debut, Right Now, You're in the Best of Hands...was a simply amazing blend of hardcore vocals, quiet shoe-gazing pop, mathy and angular guitars, and even keyboard drenched backgrounds. To be honest, I loved Right Now so much I was starting to doubt this 2nd album, Terrorhawk, would be anywhere in the same galaxy. Boy, was I wrong.

Terrorhawk is an album needing actual songs to be heard for accurate comprehension. No words I have in my vocabulary can accurately describe the height to which Bear Vs. Shark have risen. The band, which has already sported enough influences to make it difficult to determine their sound, has now blended so many genres that it is indescribable. The traditionally off-kilter lyrics have also gone further off the deep end, with titles and phrases seeming to be largely whimsical yet poignant.

Opener "Catamaran" has a scratchy starting riff and a piano backdrop before high-speed and frenzied post-rock blasts out through the speakers. This song is in the vein of earlier Bear Vs. Shark, and a swank start to the album. "5, 6 Kids" is where things take a turn. The song glides in on boozed up, dirty, math chords and a restrained drum beat. The song's air-tight power chord chorus and twinkling keyboard effects sound so polished you'd swear you could see your reflection in each note. "Six Bar Phrase Hey Hey" is a twenty-eight second blast of optimistic and frenetic post-hardcore. "The Great Dinosaurs with Fifties Section" is an apocalyptic dirge over spacey guitars and with blasts from vocalist Marc Paffi's seemingly airless lungs. The completely genius "Baraga Embankment" is one of the most interesting songs I've ever heard. This slowly-growing jam mixes piano balladry, melancholy futuristic rock, and somehow the sounds of classic Motown. Hearing a horn section and jazz piano in a Bear Vs Shark song is like seeing Husker Du jam with Ray Charles at the height of both of their careers. This is simply a song you have to hear. "Entrance of the Elected" is a bass-line ballad interspersed with airy notes falling face-down into a cavern and blasts of air vomiting them back up with the force of an F-5 tornado. "Seven Stop Hold Restart"is a straight-up hydrogen bomb; that throat-rippping, pulmonary-collapsing shriek that Marc Paffi can hit totally shreds through this track many a time.(...)

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