Who's Rich? Who's Slaves?
Evil Island's debut is built to drown out every other thought in your head.
Terraform the Afterlife arrives with a significant pedigree.
Notable names from Blood Brothers, OFF!, Trail of the Dead, Glassjaw and a handful of guests.
This album reminded me of what it was like as a kid sitting down with liner notes from a physical CD so I could figure out whatever the fuck was being screamed at me. Early 90’s John appreciated this. God damn if the verses of “Melted Heart” aren’t more fun the second time through, once you’re actually following along on paper.
Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.
Back to the album. Here’s a little context. I’m in my mid-40s(starting on the second half if you must know). I was adjacent to punk in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Being a kid in rural Kentucky didn’t afford you much access in a world of physical media. As our generation got older we were able to dive back in and observe it from outside of it. Man what a scene. All that said, if you grew up on 80’s/90’s punk you probably have a home here. If you were a 70’s kid…maybe you can get something too. That’s a really wide net.
The Record in Motion
The first two tracks almost run together. If this were a race it’s sprinting with passion and fervor. It breaks into themes of punk rap for 15 second intervals, then it’s gone, then it runs again. Ever tried to run a 4 minute mile? My ADHD/anxiety tells me listening to these two songs back to back is the same thing. Once we get to “Animal” there’s some sort of breather given. It’s stripped back, part talk part sing, a little over three minutes and still finds space for a guitar solo. Feels like the thing that only punk can achieve in such a short timespan.
Hopping into “Tiger Baby” gives me tastes of Joan Jett and The Pink Spiders. It doesn’t stop there though. It moves towards something like Alice Cooper towards the end, washing over you like acid rain. Refreshing and painful at the same time. Standing in it feeling the cool down, just knowing it’s giving you cancer.
“T-Hexx” hits me with a Steven Tyler-esque vibe but not in his traditional way. More in the “Walk This Way” collab with Run-DMC energy. Maybe it’s how Picciotto’s voice lands against the rest of the audio.
“Evil Island Death Cult National Anthem” What can I say about this song? Remember the movie Detroit Rock City? The parents were warning the kids of devil worshipping songs. Maybe this track fulfills that prophecy. Repetition is liturgy(maybe also similar to exactly what those protesting parents would do on a Sunday morning but who am I to point fingers).
Honestly I didn’t have the lyrics sheet on the first listen UNTIL I got to this song. On first listen I knew I needed to get the sheet to look at “Grow Spikes” under a magnifying glass. This might be the best example of what this album does well. An anti-love love song. Sounds, lyrics and vibes moving in the same direction for once. In a world where punk moves in an erratic pattern this one has uniformity. I won’t give you much more here because you should just listen to it.
At the end of the song there’s almost a full minute of pseudo-silence. That gap exists on one other song on the album and it feels like a nice respite. It’s space to remember where you are in the world maybe. Take a breath and relax.
The Turn
The catchiest songs are usually the worst news. “Termantrixx” steps all over your toes by indicting an entire way of living in eight lines. One that might feel familiar. And does it while sounding like a song you’d want on in the car:
Pretty houses yeah built on rubble yeah
hashtag living our best life now
Curate your morning yeah
With a workout plan
Subscription based professional help
Snap a selfie yeah
drink your Starbucks yea
Tag your friends so you know that you’re loved
Just sit with that for a minute. You sort of forget that maybe this was written in the context of an alternative reality.
“Moonlight Doomlight” bops. It’s also one of the ugliest songs on the record if you’re reading along. “Blinding Rage” sounds like Tenacious D wrote a sea shanty about a mythological shipwreck which is the first time I’ve ever had that thought much less said it out loud. “No Good” runs the other direction entirely. That one doesn’t crack open until you’ve got the words in front of you, and once it does, there’s no unhearing it.
The Close
By “King Death,” the record loses some of its tension. It’s tired. I’m tired. We’re all exhausted. It really feels like the voice is giving up. Almost welcoming death and subsequently walking straight into “Suicide By Cop.” The opening of that song takes me back to my first listen to In Utero. Something quite new to hear then and oddly heart warming to hear now. It’s a record hardening into its final shape. That resignation is here too. Welcoming the shuttering of a life by someone else’s hand.
Who’s rich?
Who’s slaves?
Gorgeous holes
Stuffed with hate
No neat wrap up. No bow on the present. Just questions lingering.