Labels: Moodswing
Review by: Andy Malcolm
It’s interesting to hear how people’s music mutates, expands and deviates over a period of time. Perhaps when they move from one band to another, and how their approach develops. Some Soviet Station feature 3 (I think) members of the fantastical Kossabone Red, who attempted little more than to sound like a spazzier Cap’n Jazz, and by jove did they pull that trick off by quite some margin. Now they have reconvened as Some Soviet Station, and it’s obvious that their musical influences have changed a touch. This album sees them take on a more expansive, rock’n’rolling approach. It’s all thumping, aggressive post-hardcore rock. It oozes the power of Drive Like Jehu, the groove of Bluetip, and the urgency of At The Drive In. These are the 3 prominent styles in their sound now, and they combine to make a belter of an LP.
“Sonic Titan” breaks out the rock from the word go. The drums thump a long, forcing the guitars to cruise at quite a pace, whilst the vocals are sassy shouts in that familiar DC style of various Dischord bands (Fugazi, NOU, Bluetip”¦ all bands that SSS owe more than a passing handshake to). So everything pulses with a ferocious energy throughout the record, with stand out tracks being the ultra-groove of “the Process” (Jehu to the max!!!) that gets the hips swinging, and “A City Is Burning”, which lives up to it’s name, scorching stuff – little touches in this track seriously remind me of Torches to Rome, something that crops up on a couple of other tracks too. It’s nothing too similar, just certain elements of the guitar sound. Also present is the previously released “Pistol Whipped” from their split 7″, though it is re-recorded, and perhaps has lost a touch of the rough and raw charm that was present in the original version. It’s still great, and the only let down I can find on the entire CD is the finale, “Goron City”. It chugs a little, and never really gets going to the same degree as the rest of the record. That said, it is nowhere near being a clunker, just pales a bit in comparison.
Overall, this is a fucking class record that you ought to check out if you like hard drivin, rock and rollin’, post-hardcore. Highly recommended.