The Jesus Lizard
Rack


3.5
great

Review

by DadKungFu STAFF
September 20th, 2024 | 31 replies


Release Date: 09/13/2024 | Tracklist

Review Summary: After more than a quarter-century, maybe the best that could be expected from the Lizard

It seems that David Yow never stops being David Yow, and the Jesus Lizard are here again as nothing less or more than The Jesus Lizard. From three album's-worth of howling noise-rock to an ignominious wet-bucket ending in the form of '98's Blue, it seemed the story of the Lizard had run its course. Only now, after smouldering in silence for 25 years, the ashes are rekindled; let the flames sputter as they may, but they are far from being out.

Dispense with the stale reheating of band-reunion-expectations hash: Rack rocks, unequivocally. Those of us who spent the past few months of anticipation hedging our bets against the expected dental decay and middle-age flab are now duly rewarded. Only, now that we’ve landed on the right side of the success/failure binary, we have to measure their success in degrees. And it’s on that front that Rack gets a tad shaky.

The Lizard were always a wonderfully complimentary unit, each member integral to a collective sound that roiled with blood and sleaze. Few bands are made up of individuals that are this interlocked in their trailer park monkey puzzle and age has done very little to diminish that fact. Sims’ bass still lurches like a shanghaied drunk, Yow yowling much as he always has, Duane’s spidery guitar lines cobwebbing their way around McNeilly’s pounding frame. Are they diminished with age and distance from the sweat-and-drug drenched atmosphere of the 90s? Alright, yes. And in the face of expectations tempered by a quarter of a century, that really doesn’t make that much difference. Yow’s a hair more mellow, Duane’s guitar is less raw, jagged, bloody, what-have-you, McNeilly’s toned things down, but it all still works, each member is still so inimitable and integral to their sound that for any real fan of the band, it’s just a joy that it all works so well again. Yow especially still brims with edgy charisma, his lyrical fables of perversion and mayhem as skin-crawling and humorous as ever, trailer trash psychosis embodied in quavers, howls and moans. But if you were hoping for the self-immolating energy of Goat well, you may be slightly delusional. Handling production duty, Paul Allen's card seems to be emulating the classic raw bass and drum-boosted Albini sound as best he can, but the new production just doesn't have that toothsome depth to it.

It’s simple to say that everything about Rack is meant to evoke everything about their heyday. Even the art is beautifully complimentary to that of Liar or Down, the music no less so, and if most of these tracks could function as B-sides of their heyday material, they’ve done it with consistency and vigor to spare. The essence is there, and it’s a force, to be sure. If it doesn’t feel as raw, as dangerous, or as alive as it did in the past, well, once a wildfire’s burned through a place, it’s going to be hard for it to relight itself. But those embers are still glowing with that evil heat, and Rack still carries more than enough weight to rest among all but the best of the Lizard’s material.



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user ratings (68)
3.3
great


Comments:Add a Comment 
DadKungFu
Staff Reviewer
September 20th 2024


5739 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Honestly, slightly better than Down, or ok, as much

DoofDoof
September 20th 2024


16345 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

need to return to this but it made very little impression on a first spin last week

ArsMoriendi
September 20th 2024


41837 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

Down has more highlights imo

gabba
September 20th 2024


1953 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Is it better than this year’s Shellac?

DadKungFu
Staff Reviewer
September 20th 2024


5739 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

That's actually a good comparison lemme check

ArsMoriendi
September 21st 2024


41837 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

Might bump this to a 3, but don't think it'll be a 3.5

ArsMoriendi
September 21st 2024


41837 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

Really looking at the lyrics during my like...7th listen?



And wtf is "What If?"...just seems like rambling

XingKing
September 21st 2024


16235 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0

New Shellac is better but this is alright

ArsMoriendi
September 21st 2024


41837 Comments

Album Rating: 3.0 | Sound Off

"I want to open a bakery

I want to brush the teeth of everyone I see"



I think I'm keeping this at a 2.5

mryrtmrnfoxxxy
September 22nd 2024


16766 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

rules

kkarron
September 22nd 2024


1683 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

It's a very 3.5 kind of album.

Demon of the Fall
September 22nd 2024


36856 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5

only spun it once but I was kinda bored ngl

MillionDead
September 22nd 2024


5730 Comments


Damn, the way people are talking about this, I’m glad I stopped after Liar.

Artax36
September 23rd 2024


127 Comments

Album Rating: 2.5 | Sound Off

All Yow had to do is get drunk and sing too close to the mic, and this album would be a lot better. Also why such clean production? Drench those guitars in reverb, bury the vocals further into the mix, make it all more lo-fi. This sounds too figurative (both the production and the songwriting), as opposed to the demented abstraction and controlled chaos that made them so special until they switched to a major label.

kkarron
September 23rd 2024


1683 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Aye, Yow is not bringing it his A-game, but have you read interviews with the man? It sounds like his health is all sorts of fucked and he's trying to keep his voice for his (surprisingly successful) acting career, which is why he pretty much said no to a reunion album until it was basically finished. So I at least kinda get it.

gabba
September 23rd 2024


1953 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

lol, I just realized he played the homeless king in under the silver lake

Mort.
September 23rd 2024


26340 Comments


"I want to open a bakery

I want to brush the teeth of everyone I see"



'I think I'm keeping this at a 2.5'


explain the difference between those lyrics and the spork you like so much

MillionDead
September 23rd 2024


5730 Comments


He was the main bad guy in I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore, too.

Mort.
September 23rd 2024


26340 Comments


oh yeah! cool movie i watched once and forgot about. need to rewatch

he also has a book of cat drawings out

kkarron
September 23rd 2024


1683 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

And also in Dinner In America. Some pretty solid indie darling films.



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