The Dillinger Escape Plan – Limerent Death (Party Smasher Inc)
Dillinger are going on ‘hiatus’ after the release and touring of their new album, Dissociation (released 14 October). Boo. Mind you, this is a band who are constantly on the road; they must be destroyed mentally and physically. Limerent Death is on edge. At just over 4 minutes in length, it’s an unhinged and chaotic melt and is plain weird – even for them! Special mention regarding the end where they slow it right down as vocalist Greg Puciato goes off on a babbling large-ham ramble, that eventually speeds up to a twisted, prog-punk throwdown of bonkers and rattling time changes. Strong.
The Menzingers – Lookers (Epitaph)
“I was such a looker in the old days…” croons Greg (or possibly Tom) on the wonderful melodic pop of Lookers, the new track from Scranton’s The Menzingers. Youthful zest and reminiscing shines on Lookers – the guitars are crisp and warm throughout, brimming with optimism and the kind of burning and sparkling energy of a band that burns with passion and knows how to deliver choruses by the truckload. This is a welcomed addition to The Menzingers arsenal of songs – cracking stuff.
Every Time I Die – Glitches (Epitaph)
Leaping off huge stacks, crushing beer cans into each others heads and fighting for their right to…well…party, Every Time I Die have one speed setting which is ‘fast’. Or rather ‘overclocked’ should be precise. Glitches is a rampage of ETID doing their thrash-trash punk with breathless and ramshackle precision. Wrestling any sort of tune out of this might be tricky, as it’s mostly just “there” in massive letters, screaming, yelling and windmilling about, shirt off, beered-up to the eyeballs. Buckley delivers his trademark throaty rasp though and there’s a good moment when they tap into their southern-raaaaaawk flamboyance.
Beach Slang- Punks In The Disco Bar (Big Scary Monsters)
As quoted by one of my friends: “Beach Slang just punched me in my heart.” That’s what these boys do. With a song title like that, it could only really be the Beach Slang boys and this two minute 40 second blast of raw, chest-pounding garage punk breezes past with gleeful joy. Also, if there was ever a music video that captured a song perfectly, then this is it. Brilliant, life-affirming, passionate rock that erupts with enthusiasm and exuberance.
Naked Giants – Ya Ya (Miscreant Records)
Bandcamp really is a wonderful place for new discoveries – take Naked Giants for example! This throbbing blast of dark-fuzz-punk is an absolute blast. At times it goes into full surf-rock mode; high-fives, stage-dives and being an absolute bro under wailing, shredding feedback (that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Hot Snakes album). Ya Ya is raucous garage rock fun times that will make you want to head to the beach as fast as possible.
Red Fang – Flies (Relapse)
Sounding a lot less bong-infused than their previous efforts, this new track from Red Fang is an uptempo slab of meaty, dirty, guttural rock ‘n roll destruction. Flies feels like the follow up to the bombastic Prehistoric Dog from their self-titled debut; it flirts with the metallic-rock of The Hunter-era Mastodon, but there’s darkness lurking at the back of this cupboard; the guitars sound unnerving and filthy in the song’s closing minute; rusty and blackened by decay, there’s the sound of sinister wailing in the background trying to push it’s way through. Odd and brilliant – check it out.
Lizard Hips
Junior Vice President of Keep It Fast. In other news: I work in social media, talk about dinosaurs, run a book club and have amazing facial hair. I am also a male man who is still not dead.
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