With a past that includes stints with both Ink & Dagger and the relentlessly subversive The Icarus Line, guitarist Dan Devore has little need to prove his credentials as a punk rock troublemaker.
But even though Sick Feeling’s sound bears only a fleeting resemblance to Dan’s past efforts, Suburban Myth still feels like an act of fervent sonic sabotage, as hardcore’s unnerving shadows are explored with determination and chaos is used as a chisel to chip away at normality’s slender façade.
Not since the glory days of Dead Kennedys’ Plastic Surgery Disasters or Black Flag’s In My Head have atmosphere and mischief been used with such keen precision. The likes of Gave Back, Liberal Arts and the brilliantly titled I’m Chafing are simultaneously exhilarating and creepy, as feedback and errant noise explode across the surface of the band’s urgent, ever-mutating riffs. If there is a downside to this unhinged backstreet skirmish, it’s that Suburban Myth is over so quickly that its impact is a little ephemeral, but any time spent in the eye of this storm should restore faith in punk’s revolutionary soul.
Via Collect
