BEAST JESUS

Beast Jesus is a four-piece chaotic hardcore / progressive metal / punk-rock / shoegaze /alternative rock /internet-core band hailing from the Philippines. They were formed in early-2016 by Francis Maria (guitarist/front man), Raphael Pulgar (guitarist), Enzo Zulueta (Bassist), and Josh Crae (Drummer). These meme digging, cat loving, genre-bending band members are from other bands like Disquiet Apartment, Joop, Game Theory, Ang Bandang Shirley, and Caitlyn Bailey. Maria, Raphael, and Josh of Caitlyn Bailey then added one more member (that is Enzo) for their new band , Beast Jesus. Imagine a shark drowning in a whirlpool while an orchestra of M16’s, Jets, and Hacksaws plunging right in the whirlpool. That whirlpool becomes this bowl of gory, brutal, dark material spreading in a sea of local music.

Growing up, I began listening to tons of black metal and sludge metal (very heavy music in general) in middle school; these albums include Liturgy, Behemoth, Dopethrone, and Deafheaven. Those entry level records eventually led me to rant and rave about the band that is Beast Jesus. I loved black metal for how extreme and heavy they were. I mean, who in their right minds can combine several genres in one track? Well, the answer to that question is their challenging and almost alienating material have been marked as one of those bands that are hard even to categorize or that doesn’t need a label to be called in a particular type of genre. With or without the typical ‘indie’ or ‘alternative’ tropes/banner that are waved around them.

Beast Jesus is the type of band that shouldn’t be called “innovative” or “new” by listeners who are laying at the surface of local ‘indie’ music or being called “fresh” by their peers. I would rather say that this band coupled themselves with formidable struts of sound and noise with other norms of music in general; which will result in getting their audience alienated for that matter. But these guys don’t care if someone says that they ‘defy’ the laws of physics in their music. There are still some good arrangements that can be found in their material.

Their debut EP, “In Various States of Disassembly” (2016), is an EP that needed to be discussed by the way it was structured. Insert the words ‘extreme’ and ‘heavy,' the EP switches from hardcore punk to chaotic metal to noise-rock to shoegaze to alternative rock. I can go and on and on and on talking about their first release. It gets crazy by the minute when listening to their headbanging masterpiece that is their ‘Disassembly.'

The band’s lyrical content is their bread and butter. With lyrics that lament about loss, grief, and hopelessness. There is subtlety when talking about this band’s material. The music you hear is getting its parts being split by machetes that are coming out of the sound monitor. And the next thing you know, this band becomes a high adrenaline thrill ride in a blink.

I can compare their second EP titled Eros Obfuscate (2016) to a nuclear blast. The EP didn’t feel like an EP at all. It had only one song on it, but the length of it is right around 17-minutes. And those 17-minutes were unforgiving and full of hel… pure destruction. I cannot explain this much context to Eros Obfuscate’s material that much. So please don’t kill me if I am not able to provide that much background information and points to why Eros Obfuscate isn’t an EP for everyone but it can be appreciated for how impressive it was. I still find their first EP to be a classic regarding crafting the sound to perfection.  

Beast Jesus can do whatever they want; they have the complete freedom to recreate whatever output they wish to create. Letting it fly while carrying a hodgepodge of music elements that come in each of their member's different backgrounds. Therefore, you get this product of music that was executed very well albeit disparate musical influences. In the current point of this band’s career, they’ve shown so much memorability in their music, and savagery through their Facebook page (we all thought that this was a meme page). Beast Jesus is an amalgamation of genres that succeeded in the past 20 years. Thank God for the Best Jesus.

I heard that their latest record would be different. Classic Beast Jesus always ready to surprise us. Hope you guys check out their other material!!  

IN VARIOUS STATES OF DISASSEMBLY (2016)

EROS OBFUSCATE (2016)