It's the best time of the year for the punks- Halloween! Why? I have no idea. Maybe because we were always the ones perceived to be 'in costume' all year and the one day a year where everyone else dons a costume makes us all feel more at home? Costumes and insecurity aside, it's just fun. People get creative in different ways- with what they wear, what they put in their windows, or lawns, or whatever and I always enjoy a good dose of creativity to get my spirits up. And that extends to a bunch of cool new stuff that came out over the last month or so that I'll pontificate upon here. And in keeping with the holiday theme each review will get a bit of a Halloween nod as well.
ANOTHER HEAVEN, “IV: Heaven Sent”
These midwesterners have been around a minute but they’ve mostly flown under the radar (mine at least), aside from a couple really good singles here and there. Based solely off those couple random songs I heard I decided I really needed to make sure I saw their set, playing quite early on a godamned Sunday at this year’s sensory-exhausting Caterwaul Fest in Minneapolis. And they were just super, donchaknow (say it like a Minnesota native would). Unbeknownst to me, they were about to release another new record and here it is. This continues their heavy shoegaze dreamy rock that just can’t help but frequently break out into unbridled post-hardcore-but-slower heaviness in many of the songs. I can’t complain about that. It’s like the bliss of stuffing your face full of candy, pilfered from a night of trick or treating in the ‘good’ neighborhoods, and getting a sugar rush headache, only to be gouged later with a nasty stomachache from overdoing it. Songs like “Erased” come across as pleasant, breezy, and poppy as can be and then they just shout at you with a hard stop-start chorus several times, alternating between the two styles all bi-polar like. “Catacombs” gives you their best take on Hum for the first half and then during the second half they decide to demonstrate what it would sound like if Hum really liked Neurosis. Patterns like this exist all over the record until closing track, “The Light” which has an almost Radiohead-quality to the melody and feel of the song. Current contemporaries would place them around the likes of Soul Blind, Cloakroom, or Big Garden. Eat it up like a king-size Zagnut kids. (Mpls Ltd)
CRONIES, “L1V3 S1CK0 L0V3 F3ST”
Get a load of these bold motherfuckers. Who comes out the gate swinging their dicks around just to show the boulder-sized balls they got to go with it like this? They start their record off with some nasty chunky old Helmet sort of bomber and then go right into “Ice Pop” that sounds like it was birthed from the center hole in a mint copy of the KARP/Rye split. After that they continue with some songs that sound like Chat Pile covering Rage Against the Machine, though I could probably do without the rappy-sounding vocals, which are most prominent on “Rentboy”. And even though I cringe just a little bit at that it’s still bold on their part to just say fuck it and go for broke. They bring it back at the end with a very long song that somehow manages to continuously rock the fuck out for over 9 minutes, like the entire time. So hats off to Cronies for being the types that would double down by not only keeping their Halloween decorations up all year ‘round, but go in on having at least two 12 foot skeletons in their yard. (Reptilian)
DUG, “You Make Me Sad”
Slower than the plot of “Rosemary’s Baby”, but two dudes having more fun than the silliness of “Phantom Of the Paradise”, Dug is a band you really need to see in order to fully understand. On their third album in probably just as many years the duo continue to lay on the crushing sludge/drone/amplifier worship to a ridiculous degree. Most of the time stuff like this goes right past me and at first I kind of felt that way about this band too. But then I saw them and witnessed just how much fun they were having, seemingly enthralled and giddy about how huge and heavy playing 5 beats per minute could be before an utterly flattened audience. So yeah, on record it’s all doom, gloom, broken machinery, abstract samples, and occasional deviations into strange found sounds or electronic bits. You’re kind of suffering through it, and some people like that. Live, you’re cheering the sonic apocalypse while winging empty beer cans at the stage and the two guys in Dug are laughing with you before another note deflects the shotgunned tall boy with sound so dense you need a shovel just to get out of the room. “Pain Machine” (the record before this) is probably their most ‘accessible’ one, but this ain’t too shabby either. (The Ghost Is Clear)
FILTH IS ETERNAL “Find Out”
I think I feel a bit misled by the first couple singles that were released from the new Filth Is Eternal record. They had some hooks, some singing parts…. were they going soft? Um, heck no. Put this slab of wax on and the entire A-side is like getting creamed by a cement truck sick of waiting in Tacoma traffic on the I-5 and gone full road rage. There is absolutely no letting up through the first 7 or 8 tracks. It’s a new high water mark for the band, who have already been pushing their raging hardcore for years now. At their most vicious they fall somewhere in between the stadium crust of Tragedy, and the HM-2 heaviness of Black Breath. And at their least ‘heavy’? I’d say they evoke some of the snarled shouts and catchy thump of L7. It isn’t until the last 4 or so tracks where they do kind of stretch their musical wings a bit and try some different song structures, a number of leads and melodies, and not just plowing through riff after riff. It certainly adds some tasteful balance to an already stellar record. And this is a record that truly sounds as loud and heavy as the band does live, so kudos on a great recording that really captures what it’s like to see this band on stage (or floor), which is like a hearty kick straight to the Wolf-Mans nards. (MNRK Heavy)
FINAL GASP, “Mourning Moon”
This sounds like early Van Halen playing Samhain. I don’t mean that derisively either. It’s fine. It certainly makes it stand out. But don’t tell me you don’t hear some of that Diamond Dave intonation in the vocals. It’s there. I’m just waiting for this guy to bust out some spandex and jump off the stage while doing a split. Although I’m guessing that’s not going to happen, unless it’s occurring in a cemetery under a full moon and there’s zombie moshers around. This isn’t my typical go-to punk, but I like it when I hear it. Get you some deathrock, goth, and hardcore all rolled together. There is a distinctive 80’s quality to the recording on purpose, which just makes these punk rippers sound all that much more distinctive. “Blood and Sulfur” stands out as one of the strongest tracks on record between it’s upbeat delivery, crushing stomp, and keeping things brief. And yet, they cruise right into the title track afterwards, which might be one of the more melodic songs on the LP, adding some synth for texture while remaining spooky all around. Honestly, if you’re not listening to this a lot this month (it being October and all) you’ve either got Samhain on repeat, or you’re doing something wrong with your life. Carve a pumpkin, put it over your head, and skeleton mosh through Spirit Halloween. (Relapse)
NECKBOLT, “Dream Dump”
Austin’s Neckbolt serve up a platter of songs more bizarre and off-the-wall than the entire 88 minute runtime of schlock horror B-movie “Blood Diner”. As strange and out there as the band is they’re really not too far afield from fellow acid-trip experimental groove gurus Guerilla Toss, if they were winging it from a garage and with more duck tape holding everything together. In other words, the group can reel you in with rhythmic repetition but then peel back the layers of reality through piles of feedback, distortion, and every conceivable voice modulator made even weirder through circuit bending (or some other process I’m too much of a layperson to understand). It really does make for a wild and fun listen, especially because they mostly keep the songs relatively brief, which is just enough time to surprise you, confuse you, and then get out just as you begin to grasp what they’re doing. Recommended for fans of weird and original shit from another planet. (Born Yesterday Records)
OPEN CITY, “Hand In the Honey Jar”
We’re all lucky to be living in a timeline where we get to experience the individuals in this band get together to make music and share it with us. It’s been a pretty long time since Open City graced us with new music (nearly 6 years I think), but to be fair, they are an extremely part time band so I suppose we ought to just feel lucky to get anything at all. For those unfamiliar, Open City is half of Paint It Black with drummer Chris Wilson (Ted Leo/Pharmacists) and guitar virtuoso Rachel Rubino (Bridge & Tunnel) trading 6 strings for one microphone and absolutely shredding throat. Despite an overt dedication to channeling all things Sarah Kirsch (Fuel, Torches To Rome, Bread and Circuits, a million other bands) and Dischord hardcore, you can still hear traces of guitarist Dan Yemin’s distinct playing style in there. It all makes for an excellent listen of emotionally wrought, tenuously melodic, and energy-filled hardcore punk. A couple welcome deviations from the overarching theme take place where Yemin slips in a full-on Paint It Black song with “Blitz Kids Stay Sick”, as well as an obvious nod to Philly legends Ink & Dagger at the end of “Return Your Stolen Property Is Theft”. Meanwhile, midway track “No One Thinks About You More Than You” takes a slower, more somber, yet melodically uplifting respite before things pick up again through the second half of the record. All told, this is a great follow up to their first album, filled with enough emotion to wake the dead Herbert West-style in “Re-Animator”. (Get Better)
TORONTO BLESSINGS, “Big Wins”
OK, try to keep up, geographically speaking. Toronto Blessings are a band that does not hail from Canada, but instead the UK. And yet, on the first few tracks here they really remind me of the punky noiseniks in Canada’s very own Metz. So, just keep your head in England here, OK? Because after that initial salvo of songs they pivot to the far more expansive and drawn out “Omission”. And from there they get weirder as various guitar effects whizz and weave throughout the songs like laser fire in some sci-fi flick, to 70’s slasher proggy film synths. Additionally, insofar as vocals are concerned, the band errs more on the sassy punk side evoking some kind of midway point between the freaked out spazz of The Blood Brothers and the more wavering singing of At The Drive-In. I know this all sounds kind of like a mixed bag, but believe me, it works. You get enough rippers that are nicely balanced out by some of the longer and more involved songs. Just like the “Halloween” film franchise sometimes they just throw in the odd movie that doesn’t fit with the others, but regardless of which one you’re watching someone’s getting killed. (Serial Bowl Records)
WRONG MAN, “Big Plans” EP
The second EP from Wrong Man comes pretty quickly after their first one and I sort of wonder why they didn’t just roll with an LP from the jump. In the long run I suppose it doesn’t mater, however, there is a noticeable difference between the songwriting on that first record and this one where it seems they put an emphasis on more melody than before, particularly in the layered guitars across the pensive and anxiety-inducing “Wait”. Still present are the Rollins Band style bluesy riffs (especially on the title track) and the almost spoken word creepy crawl of “Lights Out”. Of course, there’s some seriously great screaming in that song as well. This EP lacks a little of the more overt weighty heaviness of their first EP, but comes across just as crunchy in other ways. Not everything has to come at you with a sledgehammer to be heavy. This is more creeping killer waiting in the woods, a la “Killer In the Woods” (how’s that for a comparison?). (Sunday Drive)
