Your Must Listen For the Week – Screamo Act LIMBS Unveil Intense New Album [Philippines]

In 2023 if you are able to find a band who releases a collection of material that differs from song to song to the point you never know what to expect, yo, hold on to that band tight. Those are the kinds of bands who clearly listen to a whole array of music and then allow their hands to take over to create their own interpretation mashing up all these influences bringing something unpredictable to the table.

Philippines screamo trio LIMBS is such band. Even labeling them “screamo” doesn’t seem appropriate because there are so many other elements thrown into the LIMBS pie. “Musically, as always, we try to change up our sound a bit with each release. A goal when making this record was to also try to make uplifting or optimistic sonics (at least in the context of the kind of music we are making), which is a rejection of the sound of our previous release that was darker and moodier. We were influenced by a lot of stuff, but just hardcore in general. We also tried leaning more on our experience as producers, where all three of us also record and make music on our own, so there are a lot of electronic sections this time around. For the first time too, we collaborated with other musicians for a major release where they contributed writing and recording parts. We had musician extraordinaire Four Limbs Six Hands, Jem Gallardo from the band Pry, and rap duo switchbitch on this album,” state the band members. So it makes sense that on their third full length, ‘Everything Under the Sun’, the band only continues to push their musical abilities but do it in such a way that everything somehow still is a coherent listen. How do bands do this? No idea…but LIMBS is able to pull this off perfectly.

Music this intense always makes us wonder about the overall lyrical content. What could match the frantic yet at times thoughtful madness found in the music? “The album’s themes are heavily influenced by our involvement in activism and the mass movement by way of Artista ng Rebolusyong Pangkultura – ARPAK (https://www.facebook.com/arpakphl), a cultural organization supporting the peasant movement here in the Philippines. A lot of the album’s lyrical content revolves around the landlessness of farmers, militarization in the countryside, red-tagging and terror tagging of activists and legal personalities, and the widespread hunger amidst an ongoing food crisis enabled by Ferdinand Marcos Jr., son of the late dictator. “A Terror Divine” underscores the brutal record of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in its counter-insurgency program, where “Hope Belligerent” talks about Tinang 83, an unjust mass arrest of farmers and advocates that happened in Concepcion, Tarlac in 2022. Those are some examples, but the breadth of the record spans a lot of things.

We won’t dance around the point we are trying to make: artists and musicians should heed the call and unite with the basic masses to be able to fight the fascist state and the new Marcos dictatorship.”

“The artwork was made by Mikhail Collado, also a member of ARPAK. The visual theme for the album was ‘escalation’, with war escalating to a critical point. We acknowledge that there is an ongoing civil war in the country, and the necessity of launching a people’s war to protect the interests of the masses. The giant mechs were just there because it’s cool lol and the record references mecha media too so that’s that.”

Look out for announcements about physical formats being released by the band themselves. For now, go enjoy the magic of this release!

https://www.facebook.com/limbs1991