COLISEUM, “Anxiety’s Kiss”
Having seen this band since they began I feel like their
trajectory got more aggressive with each release, peaking at “No Salvation”
before they took a decidedly different turn into post-punk (and I guess
post-hardcore) territory with “House With a Curse” (which still remains my
overall favorite Coliseum record in their fairly large catalog), and began to
get less bluntly aggressive with each release. But that’s the trick that makes them such a wonderful band- they
still write incredibly aggressive and confrontational music, just with a
decidedly more melodic and experimental bent these days. I mean, the first two tracks on
“Anxiety’s Kiss”- “We Are the Water” and “Course Correction”- are some of the
strongest material the band has ever written, both lyrically and
musically. “We Are the Water”, a
unity rally delivered with driving bass, pulsing synth, and anthemic riffs
culled from years of listening to Dischord Records is the perfect opener. “Course Correction” is more in line
with Coliseum of old, a raging hardcore dig at the one percent and burning down
banks. But there is change, and it
is good. The band has introduced
minor synth accompaniment on almost every song here, mostly as a textural
addition, and hardly dominating any given song (although A-side closer “Dark
Light Of Seduction” ends with a diminishing synth loop that goes into a locked
groove, just so you know it’s there.
“Comedown” utilizes this more electronic aspect to great effect as a
pulsating background for the entire song to make it feel like some futuristic
dystopian car chase movie soundtrack.
It’s one of the best songs on here. “Driver At Dusk” is a slow and methodical track that recalls
first LP Tortoise in its spatial meandering and spoken vocals of driving
through the night, stark and beautiful.
The album closes with the thumping post-hardcore bliss of “Escape Yr
Skull”, a loud and bouncy track that ends things on a note uncommon for
Coliseum… but that’s the
point. Move forward, try new
things, and somehow still be that same band that has been doing great things
for years. Yeah, this might not be
my favorite Coliseum record of them all, but there’s a pretty good chance that
could change by year’s end.
(Deathwish)
CREEPOID, “Cemetery High Rise Slum”
Am I just getting used to what Creepoid blew my mind with a
few years ago so that each new release isn’t hitting me as hard, or does this
record just sound like a straight continuation of their last self-titled
LP? Like, there’s no progression,
or maturity, it feels like the self-titled got released and they just kept
writing. That’s not necessarily a
bad thing, because that was a good record. So, by default, that makes this a good record as well. Yet I feel on their debut, “Horse
Heaven”, not only was there a strong variety in the types of songs they did and
a lot more distinct variation within many of the songs doing a loud-quiet-loud
thing that I found to be quite exciting.
The songs on “Cemetery High Rise Slum” feel like one big swirling
psychedelic haze of dreamy vocals, rocking tempos, and fuzzed-out guitar
wails. There is a soft-side to all
their noise that is countered with an underlying sort of looming Manson family
type of drugged-out terror, just waiting to be unleashed. The sadist in me sort of wants more of
that cheap-drug freak-out bleeding walls mania. It’s a damn good record, but that sort of live insanity this
band produces (seriously, go see them) doesn’t come off as strong as I was
hoping on this one. (Collect Records)
FAILURE, “The Heart Is a Monster”
This album is a monster. At 18 tracks (6 of which are segues) and over an hour of
music it’s a lot to take in. You
basically get one song for every year that Failure has been out of
commission. They had a lot of time
to come up with a lot of stuff, so I guess you will have to forgive them for
making this record a little lengthy.
I never quite picked up on this band, having heard their name thrown
about in their heyday, lazily checking out a couple of their albums
half-attentively, and then sort of dismissing it as good, but not really
anything I’d put on constant rotation.
They were relegated as a footnote in the back of my mind while scores of
other bands took cues from what they did and paid deep homage (Cave-In most
notably, The Life and Times/Shiner most assuredly- even though they existed in
similar times). All in all I knew
what I was probably getting and I’m happy with what I hear. There are certainly some very strong
tracks here, ones that I find myself humming after only a couple listens, and
then there are all the segues, which feel a bit unnecessary. For long time fans of the group rejoice
for it hath arrived. For the
passive fan such as myself consider it a good slab of thoroughly thought-out,
and expertly executed space rock that can be enjoyed by pretty much
anyone. (INgrooves)
FIGHT AMP, “Constantly Off”
Long-running Philly scum rockers Fight Amp pull a hat trick
out of their ass and strike back with an EP (they call it an LP, but it’s six
songs in 18 minutes) that pretty much rules. I gotta admit I wasn’t too swayed with their last full
length, “Birth Control”. Sure, it
did the trick of being a solid noise rock outing, but nothing on it really
stuck with me. At least this keeps
things pretty short and sweet and has a barrage of riffs raining down on
you. Not only does “I Perceive
Reptoids” have the best title on the record, it’s probably the best track here
with it’s lumbering sort of catchiness (in it’s own sludgy and filthy way). If you want to roll with some Melvins
type stuff, but less stop-and-go and pretty much all go Fight Amp, and this
record in particular, is a pretty good way to roll. (Brutal Panda)
SELF DEFENSE FAMILY, “Heaven Is Earth”
Self Defense Family keep things interesting because they
always take an approach to what they do without the slightest bit of concern as
to what others think, and they generally do a very good job of presenting it
successfully. They write and
record constantly. Most of the
songs on this record fit in with how they have been writing music for the last
couple years- a combination of Lungfish’s repetitive ragas, hazy atmospheric
drones of melody and spoken word-style vocals, and a few upbeat songs scattered
throughout. So in one respect it’s
not terribly out of line with what SDF has been doing. In other respects they try some new
things- recording at multiple studios for one record (not really noticeable in
the overall sound), throwing in some piano and harmonica into songs, and some
different approaches to vocals. As
always, the lyrics are fascinating to read, filled with clever snark and great
wordplay (such as the catchy and upbeat “Everybody Wants a Prize”), or heavy
bombast (as on “Talia”, easily the record’s strongest song and possibly in the
top five songs the band has ever written). It’s a relatively succinct record though, when compared to
last year’s “Try Me”, a sprawling double LP complete with an interview that
took up two of those sides. At
eight songs and roughly 26 minutes “Heaven Is Earth” is not going for any
conceptual landmarks, but it does the job of showcasing a band right where
they’re at right now. Who am I
kidding, they probably have a dozen more 7”s in the can awaiting pressing from
some label that doesn’t exist yet.
They probably don’t even play these songs live anymore because they’re
already onto the next thing.
(Deathwish)
SPRAYPAINT, “Punters On the Barge”
Spray Paint don’t really change, so much as they just get
better at what they’ve been doing since they began. This being their fourth LP in as many years the band is no
doubt prolific, even though each album gets shorter and shorter (“Rodeo Songs”
was a full-on 15 tracks, which last years “Clean Blood, Regular Acid” was a
respectable 12, and this new one 10 quick blasts). They’ve gotten better at recording, or I should say, being recorded,
as this is the cleanest, most polished record of theirs to date. I’m not sure how I feel about that
though. I’m all for bands not
sounding like garbage on record, but there’s a little bit of roughness I enjoy
about all things punk-related and that sense of mysterious weirdness seemed to
peak on the aforementioned “Clean Blood…”, with its perfect balance of
accentuating the weird parts vividly, yet still keeping a touch of the
cave-style dankness. Yet the
Austin trio does throw a few new tricks into play, particularly on the B-side
where “Soiled” dips into foggy guitar bellows, spooky basement squeals, and
jutting stabs of noise. “Fishing”
begins with a squealing tape loop that makes you think your record player
fucked up, and using various spurts of warped guitar play as hooks, all to
unique effect. “Day Of the Rope”
closes out the A-side with wild post-punk dirges, sequencer-sounding drumming,
and buzzing synths humming throughout for a try at something both new and
nerves-wracked anxiety-driven.
“Pay your rent, motherfucker!”
(Homeless)
THOU/ GREAT FALLS, split 7”
Both bands cover Shellac. And that’s a pretty good thing to do. You get this cool silkscreened package
and two crazy-ass bands, and the subject of which is another wild band… yeah, sign me up. Great Falls does an absolutely bonkers
neurotic version of “Wingwalker”.
Sure, the original is pretty bad ass in it’s own right, but Great Falls
have that way of getting all ‘random stabs in the darkness during a prison riot’
that just turns this song into a well-recorded and heavy nightmare. Thou take on the classic “Prayer To
God”. In typical Thou fashion they
definitely stray from the source and do their own thing. And usually their own thing is slow
(check) and yet still very tight (che…
wait… what’s this?). In
this case they get as noisy as possible, fuzz-out everything, and scream into
abandon, which is probably the appropriate attitude when the lyrics are ‘kill
it, fuckin’ kill it’ over and over.
I prefer the Great Falls side, but the thing as a whole is well worth
it. (Hell Comes Home)
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