Preoccupations
Viet Cong


4.0
excellent

Review

by StrangerofSorts EMERITUS
January 18th, 2015 | 867 replies


Release Date: 2015 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Kicking off 2015 with a century of influences and a fair bit of death.

'Guitar music is dead'. Or at least it should be. To be quite honest no one really knows how the hell it is still going. The recent death of the UK's oldest person highlights the fact the guitar-genre set, from Blues onwards, is as old as she was. That means a lifetime of music for any bored kid on YouTube to discover: allowing them to grow up to play watered-down versions of 90's indie that was itself a throw-back to the late 60's/early 70's, and even most of that is probably reducible to a few bars on an early Beatles b-side etc. etc. etc.

Alternatively, you could take the same route as Viet Cong and dip your hand into the genre bag, see what you get and hope the combination sounds like something no one has done before. Post-punk, as 'in' now as it was 30 years ago, makes up the bulk of their sound. It is joined by the kind of art punk made famous by The Talking Heads, along with a sizeable weight of noise. The eternal coolness of which is one of this life's few universal truths, as anyone who owns an amp with a dial marked 'gain 3' will testify.

What follows Viet Cong's first distorted drum beat is as self-aware and energetic as you'd expect from a band who burst from the ashes of the legendary Women. It's chaotic: throwing together enough influences to make it impossible to pin any of them down and pushing the boundaries of each while they're at it. To take a stab at it, guitar drones meet jangle pop to a kick-drum which must be in need of constant replacement. Lead single 'Continental Shelf' schizophrenically cuts between a riff-lead, foot-stomping call to arms and noise-less epiphanies, which for my money represents the small moments of serenity dotted throughout the process of smashing up a recording studio.

Elsewhere, the abstract, claustrophobic layers of 'Pointless Existence' slowly build up to 'if we're lucky we'll get old and die', 'March of Progress' sounds like The Dodos on a bad trip and the over 11 minute, sweat-soaked jam that is album-closer 'Death' promises to send most of a live audience berserk. In fewer words, it is fantastic.

The presence of death should already be obvious from these few choice cuts, and it is difficult not to draw a link between the album's shadowy subject matter and the untimely death of Women's guitarist Chris Reimer just three years ago. It gives us a source for the album's bristling yet moody energy and lets us hear catharsis in the place of rage. 'Death' reflects the attitude of an entire genre: carry on despite the inevitability; close your eyes; play harder.

Despite the gloomy subtext, Viet Cong have beaten the odds to make something we haven't really heard before. The fact this album could have been released before its members were born is neither here nor there, and it is testament to just how good the album is that it looks set to dominate the first part of 2015. Or, if not quite that, at least give fans of guitar music something to talk about in the increasingly long pauses between good albums.



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user ratings (644)
3.9
excellent
other reviews of this album
Jots EMERITUS (4.2)
Well, what do we expect? A welcomed infirmity...

helpoemer420 (4.5)
Check your anxieties, no need to suffer endlessly...

jtswope (4)
Viet Cong’s debut album ascends high beyond the malaise that strikes at its creators’ heels....

larrytheslug (4.5)
Viet Cong's debut channels fervor reminiscent of purposeful and captivating post-punk bands of old....



Comments:Add a Comment 
Jots
Emeritus
January 18th 2015


7584 Comments

Album Rating: 4.2

(edit: fixed)

Tunaboy45
January 18th 2015


18563 Comments


And there it is

Nice one

StrangerofSorts
Emeritus
January 18th 2015


2904 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

holy shit, that did NOT read how I wanted it to... out it goes.

Jots
Emeritus
January 18th 2015


7584 Comments

Album Rating: 4.2

lmao, shoulda left it

StrangerofSorts
Emeritus
January 18th 2015


2904 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

my house isn't lynch-mob proof tho

BMDrummer
January 18th 2015


15165 Comments


fuck now johnny's rev isn't flagged :[

Jots
Emeritus
January 18th 2015


7584 Comments

Album Rating: 4.2

jonny>johnny ;[

BMDrummer
January 18th 2015


15165 Comments


we had such a good thread going

mindleviticus
January 18th 2015


10604 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

it's been a while since i've heard from you jonny ! :]



Great review. Great album

StrangerofSorts
Emeritus
January 18th 2015


2904 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

I know man. Still poke my head in but with exams and doing a bit of editing for the student paper I barely get time. As soon as summer hits I'm going to go mental with reviews though, so cherish the silence!

Slut
January 19th 2015


4255 Comments


Raaaaaaaad

PappyMason
January 19th 2015


5702 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Sweet review. Great album.

ADanceReturns
January 19th 2015


365 Comments


Bay blades

RivalSkoomaDealer
January 19th 2015


1645 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Good review. This is my AOTY so far. I think "Death" and "Continental Shelf" are my choice cuts on here.

ckssr1
January 19th 2015


289 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Album rules

PappyMason
January 20th 2015


5702 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Yeah @RivalSkoomaDealer, 'Continental Shelf' still sounds amazing to me.

deathschool
January 20th 2015


28939 Comments


Fuck. I guess I'm gonna jam this right now

YakNips
January 20th 2015


20104 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

u just gotta FEEL it



dont think about it





FEEL IT

deathschool
January 20th 2015


28939 Comments


Honestly not sure how I feel about this first listen. That's not necessarily a bad thing, just a lot to process. It's unique, I'll say that

mindleviticus
January 20th 2015


10604 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

your mom said that when I was breathing in her ear during coitus



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