Millions

Failure Tactics (Seventh Rule)
By Mike Delano

Chicago’s Millions make some prickly, engaging noise on their second album, Failure Tactics. Their concoction of a few parts Refused, a few parts Fucked Up, swirled together with some industrial clang and coated with a bleak, post-hardcore shell of despair makes for something highly combustible and impossible to turn away from. “Shipwreck” is a jagged tune that lives up to its name, and “Siberian Angel” sounds like a shambling monster injected with speed, rickety and liable to fall apart at its feverish new pace. Any sense of calm or familiarity, like the opening riff of “Pervert,” is quickly shattered by the abrasive delivery of guitarists/vocalists Scott Flaster and Corey Lyons, who sound like they’re performing in the middle of a riot, flanked by overturned burning cars and with gasmasks on their foreheads ready to be pulled down at a moment’s notice. It all makes for a tense and compelling album, and the energy never wavers (late album tracks “Suicide Pact” and “U.F.F.O.” are highlights), so by the end of it all, you’ll be exhausted just trying to keep up.
(www.seventhrule.com)