Review Summary: Heroin Man transcends the genre of noise rock.
Once you've listened to Heroin Man a few times, the distortion, audio samples, and tortured vocals become its least important qualities; most of the songs are so good that they could be performed by a steel pan band, bagpipe quintet, or recorder ensemble for all I care.
The album's first minute is its best, and one of the best passages in all of punk rock: A punishing melody in 7/8 played over a busy signal. The way it wanders harmonically indicates that the band has the perfect amount of chops, inspiration, and willingness to break the rules. Later in the track (Stag Party), Cherubs play in common time without sounding like they're playing in common time. For this they deserve more math rock cred than all the bands arpeggiating in 5/8.
Animator and Blackhouse are two more highlights. The former has a bluesy, pentatonic feel with some cool guitar licks, while the latter is a 14/4 groove-monster.
Cherubs finally ease up in Dave of the Moon, a slower, methodically-paced song with some interesting riffs and emotional singing. It's the first time they abandon the all-out fuzz assault and play around with different textures and tones.
The album's final stretch is almost as good as the opening, and shows off the band's incredible range. Cockpit-kiss the shine is somewhat of a companion piece to Blackhouse, boasting a similarly tricky main riff in 14. The Big Groovy shares riffs and rhythms with Dave of the Moon. These cross-album similarities give the record a great sense of cohesion.
Venus Flytrap and Playdoh have the album's vocal melodies, albeit in very different contexts: the former is a punky pit-starter, while the latter disconnects the stompboxes in favor of Beatles-esque chord changes and tender vocal harmonies. Closer Example Maiden Japan/Devil's Food, divided into a tritone-heavy sludgefest and a dramatic guitar solo, is worth every second of its 9:27 runtime.
I think this is a genius album that will appeal to anyone who likes interesting, thought-provoking, and absolutely headbanging music.
