Review Summary: It's the Night Before Thanksgiving and You Expected More
Albany, New York-based hardcore band Drug Church’s sophomore record ‘Hit Your Head’ finds little in the way of originality in its instrumental compositions while still having enough vigor and rawness vocally and lyrically to separate itself from the pack. Caveman riffs and kick-to-the-floor drum patterns define this twenty-seven-minute record, occasionally deviating with a post-rock/shoegaze passage or slower, grungier guitar scale to diversify their output. The organic simplicity of their approach to this style of music makes for an easy listen but without too many frills and thrills.
The quirkiness of the lyrical content adds a bit of attitude and personality to this band. A track like “Aging Jerk” which structures itself as a review of various films in a theater is especially fun and interesting.
“The dialogue felt stilted
Full of exposition
I give it a 1 out of 5
The motivation's muddy
Characters drop in and they drop out
I give it a 2 out of 5”
The stale, course delivery by vocalist Patrick Kindlon almost reminds me of Chat Pile’s vocalist Randy Heyer in that it’s furious, a bit one-note but exudes tons of character and emotion. Truth be told, the lyrics and vocals are the main draw of this record because all the other elements feel very singular and redundant. It can even be argued that after a while, the novelty of the strange lyrics and emotive vocals can’t save the simplicity and one-dimensional nature of this record.
An admirable trait of this record is its complete disregard for traditional structure with most of the songs being sub-three minutes and virtually jumping from one idea to another without any real rhyme or reason. The track “Then Try” is a one and a half-minute thriller that finds itself as a single verse that repeats itself and elevates its intensity. The lyrics feel very train-of-thought/matter-a-fact with the vocal delivery mirroring that sentiment.
“Lost the remote, gotta change it by hand
Can’t find the time, fell behind on plans
Ring fell in the drain, forced to buy a new one
Lost the plot of the thing, gotta start at the top.”
While this record certainly wasn’t my favorite listening experience, I did find some elements to appreciate and sort of giggle at in amusement. This band’s latest output in my opinion is much more refined and thoroughly interesting but this record is a nice little peek in time at a band searching for its identity with mixed results.
2.75/5
