Atlas Vending is decidedly less friendly than Strange Peace, with Alex Edkins snarling and spitting his way through gnarled and noisy songs that hit with a varying degree of damage. It's also more musically adventurous, with savage and haunted album opener Pulse leading the charge into 40 minutes of unadulterated chaos.
That's not to say Atlas Vending is strictly a throwback to the first two albums, not in the least; while some of that old, familiar crunch is there, there are also evolutions weaving through the track list. Some of the changes are subtle (such as the backing vocals on standout Blind Youth Industrial Park), and some are not (such as the slowly unfurling last four minutes of A Boat to Drown In). In between you'll find plenty of menace and vitriol, perhaps most clearly illustrated by the manic drumming of Hayden Menzies.
The thrills of Atlas Vending aren't always as immediately apparent as they were when Strange Peace was at its most accessible, so as to say there's nothing quite like Cellophane to be heard here (though Hail Taxi comes close in terms of dialing back the noise a bit and revealing Metz's melodic abilities). This is a more forceful album, one that's designed to hit hard, early and often, though not at the expense of artistic growth. That tricky feat is perhaps Atlas Vending's greatest thrill of all.
October 9, 2020 • Royal Mountain
Highlights Blind Youth Industrial Park • Hail Taxi • Framed By the Comet's Tail
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