Spice : " s/t"

Some members of Ceremony, set off to form a side project that heavily embraces the indie rock / post hard core sound of the 90s. Sonically owing a great deal to Bob Mould. The singer of Ceremony lends his voice to this and his singing is much better than it was on the last Ceremony album. It is more emotive. He comes much closer to singing. There is the detached slacker attitude to his approach , but that is a defining element of this sound. When it comes to the sound , they nailed it , but also care about the songs. The first hint of punk shows up on the 3rd song "Murder". It also shows just how close this era flirted with post punk. It works off more sonic tension than being in your face. Sonic Youth is a better reference point than Fugazi in this regard.

Both the guitar tones and the playing is what really propels this album. I know there is a violinist on this album, but I have yet to hear her. They come even closer to punk on "Reward Trip". There is some drive to the song , but I am not sure I would call it angry. More aggressive than the previous songs for sure. The singing continues to improve on "Dogs". This song takes a more melancholy slant. This album is not limited in the range of emotion it expresses which I admire.  ' Vo the Night" is just an instrumental interlude. They come back hammering at you with the sonically intense " Black Car". This is better than anything Ceremony has done in recent memory. Granted I grew up with this sort of thing, as in grew up listened to it going into senior year of high school.

The first time I hear the violin is on " the Building Was Gone" . It is a good almost post punk balance of sounds . Atmosphere even set agains the force the song moves with . Melodic enough it reminds me a little of early R.E.M. The album closes strong with  the timely " I Don't Want to Die In New York".  It captures the early 80s punk feel well. I will give this album a 9.5 for now and see how it grows on me. It feels like this is one of the rare moments where the side project out shines their day job band. Out the 17th of July on Dais Records/