Players Club

Coextinction (Arclight)
By Craig Regala

No shit. This is a great EP. NOT as cash-in-after-the-fact, NOT as a hold-over-’til-the-full-length-lands thing. Coextinction is a full-on chunk of strong songs, great recording/sound, and a continuation of the powerful, pushy sound they’ve throw up on stages all over the nation. Keeping the promise of the lower East Side scum rock/noise rock of the early ’90s jammed through a metalized frame and heart-tugging murder melodies, Coextinction picks up where Regenesis sat and hones the vicious hard rock waaaaaaaaay-post punk “thing” into what hardnut rock oughta be. Pigfuck rules (if you don’t know, don’t ask). It sits at the table with The Unsane and the long-gone Jesus Lizard for quality + power + chops = good.

These guys are kickin’ and stickin’ like the Berserker label (R.I.P.) and bands like Superhighway Carfire and Below The Sound did: Taking the Touch and Go/Amphetamine Reptile mid-’90s into the fluid rock-as-rock-as-fuck mid-’00’s, melding what’s good and proper about “then” with the historical kick-ass rhythmic thrust/parry of “forever.” Cool enough for pretty much everybody.

The opening turgid bashing of “Things You Can’t Imagine” give way to a muttering snarl with rising chiming guitar, telegraphed staccato bass chug, and the deep blue shadow of the crushed, early ’70s underground mulch Rolling Stone‘s writers wished never existed. This shit’d be heavy on acoustic instruments. Dive into it and the emotional bite’ll send you into this world of sin and pain, looking for the possibility of hard-fought redemption. If you can’t program the uplift of “Safety World” into your personal playlist, you oughta rethink how your DNA is programmed.
(www.arclightrecords.com)