Harkonen are a mysterious bunch. I mean, they play an interesting variety of progressive hardcore, they use lots of interesting instruments, and nobody knows if their band's name is from Dune or not. Well, actually this information probably is known, and I could probably find it out with a few quick Google searches, but wherever they got their name from really isn't that important. What's important is that "Dancing" is a damn fine EP.

The music here is sludgy, primitive, and relentlessly heavy. Forget the watered-down hardcore that the trendy scenesters and hipsters are into, Harkonen are the real deal. Overproduction is not present, and nor are there any weaker passages where the intensity lets up. On the other hand, this music isn't brutish or unsophisticated, indeed, despite its intensity and power, the music has quite a bit of artistic intensity, it's not just loud powerchords played for the sake of making noise.

In Tow is a good example of the sort of hardcore goodness the band has brewed. It's heavy, definitely, but there is also a bunch of grooves mixed in with the carnage to give the track a little bit of extra depth. There's even a xylophone on the track, that amazingly enough manages not to sound like a complete gimmick instrument. I'm Taking The Hydroplane To Bellingham cycles around with a picked guitar piece, before exploding in a shower of fury at the end of the song. The Yolk is an bubbly (relatively speaking) piece, that adds speed to the mixture and creates some music that's not quite as claustrophobic as the rest of the EP.

This EP has also been produced by Jack Endino, who has produced such names as Nirvana and Soundgarden in the past. Many hardcore records sound like they've been recorded in a cupboard, but Endino has done a fantastic job doing this, and the production is excellent. While there is still an element of sludge in there, it's not overbearing, and the interplay between the instruments is absolutely superb, and gives these songs yet more power and depth.

In short, this EP does what an EP is supposed to do, and provides an intriguing teaser for the band's future works. As the band themselves warn on the packaging, "Prepare to be destroyed". For once, a band has followed through.