Power rock, heavy on the fuzz. Big, powerful chords with lyrics submerged just beneath the surface. There’s also a playful, virtuosic guitar.
This is fun, youthful music, with an adolescent vibe (in a good way). The vocalist is petrified of getting old: of attending his friends’ weddings instead of music concerts, that his friends are growing up without him while he’s still laughing at jokes from sixth grade. You’ve gotta feel for him. That having been said, it’s not always possible to make out the lyrics, which are often buried beneath fuzz and powerful chords.

RIYL: Cloud Nothings, Weezer. Recommended songs: 3, 10, 2 (watch the FCC), 12

1) “Full Stick” (1:39): A high-energy, optimistic song, which announces the intention of the album to go “full stick,” to hold nothing back.
2) “Henchmen” (3:00): (FCC: FUCK) Lots of anxiety about growing up. Big, awesome, fuzzy guitar hook.
3) “Mad Men” (3:03): Great, ambitious guitar, and some of the lyrics are super-fun: “There are men who have been deemed successful / I just don’t know any one of them / I’ll be accepted if I look just like one / And be repayed the money I have spent…”
4) “Bicycle Girl” (2:19): Most of the lyrics are shouted. Frenetic. Maybe a bit underdeveloped.
5) “Saint Scrapyard” (2:33): Playful guitar alternates with quiet, introspective verses.
6) “It’s Hard Getting Old” (5:58): “Don’t want to grow up or grow old.” The album takes a breather and recenters itself. The second half is mostly instrumental.
7) “Boys Part 1” (0:54): Acoustic guitar and voice. A bit out of place on the album, and very short. Probably don’t play it on its own.
8) “Theme for Boys” (3:10): Growly, reverby guitar. Sacrifices some catchiness for raw power.
9) “Oh No” (3:05): (FCC: ASS? Is this an FCC?) Some cool lyrics about playing chicken with cigarettes… More defiant refusal to grow old.
10) “Teenage Metalhead” (3:41): The singer adopts the perspective of a teenage metalhead, trying to start a band. Funny, simple, cool, with some funky rhythms. Reminded me of high school.
11) “Satan is Real” (4:00): Lots of fuzz on the second half of this one, and the lyrics are pretty difficult to understand.
12) “You Are Not the Villain” (7:04): Big, booming chords are the focus here, not the vocals. In fact, most of the lyrics are difficult to make out, and they vanish entirely in the second half. Almost a post-rock feel, complete with drony sounds in the background in the second half and a noisy last minute.
13) “Boys Part 2” (1:42): (FCC: FUCKED) A continuation of the seventh track, but with drony sounds in the background.

--Mr. Tumnus