End You is the mainly solo project of Eric Smith, someone you might remember from The Catalyst – a snarky, splenetic post-hardcore, post-screamo act from Richmond, VA who released a clutch of decent records for labels like Robotic Empire, Electric Human Project and The Perpetual Motion Machine. It’d be a fib to say the apple has fallen very far from the tree, but End You seems uglier and more ornery: the caustic energy is still there, but the sound is crotchety with aches, crumpled dreams and the knowledge that miles on the clock haven’t necessarily made life any more bearable. Riffs clump and bulge while Smith sneers and hollers, the puckish bounce of yore now thicker round the neck and shoulders and sounding closer to snapping than is often comfortable. Drive Like Jehu via Karp springs to mind, but I’m also minded of bands like Multicult and The Austerity Program – bands that often seem unkind and unpleasant, but whose music and worldview seem so on-point that you can’t fault them their cruelties.
