Red Animal War

Polizida (Ice Planet)
by Tim Den

Red Animal War have built a steel-solid rep in the underground over the course of two – and now three – records. Polizida, the band’s first away from long-time home Deep Elm, is a drastic departure from the Jawbox angularity of their past work. Instead of tricky time signatures and complex guitar lines, the band focuses on translating pain – as in “old Black blues singer type pain,” according to guitarist/vocalist Justin Wilson – into downstroked chords and straight-ahead beats. Coupled with ominous, dark artwork, Polizida is the bleakest Red Animal War have ever sounded, and the band is obviously quite proud of that fact.

Some post-punk fanboys might balk at the absence of crazy arpeggios and polyrhythms, but if they listen closer they’d find the kind of grit and sweat that only a Texas band can meld into music. Polizida is, according to the band, “the true spirit of the Red Animal War Machine: For the first time in their career.” It might be a different taste, but it still tastes brutally real.
(www.iceplanet.com)