Crystal Methodist – “Drear”
I remember working in the mail room of the Boston Public Library in the late seventies. Along with a co-worker, Eddie, an amateur jazz drummer who turned me on to Miles Davis- we decided to do some crystal meth at the beginning of our lunch break. It was a first for me. And it must’ve been spring because it was a bright, non-humid day and I remember walking up and down Boylston Street with sunglasses and a smile on my face.
I just dabbled then. Now it seems meth eats people alive as most hard drugs do.
And I recall the song “Methodist Church”- my favorite song by the early Boston punk band The Girls, which were actually, all guys. They had a synth player and had wild, chaotic songs and shows. I’d describe them as Devo if they had formed in a mental institution.
But this is not a review of my reminisces.
This review is about a young, hardcore band from New Hampshire and their album “Drear”- it’s the literary term for dreary. They’ve been around a few years now, been reviewed favorably here before and is a band that I’ve always enjoyed. But here I think with this album they take a few giant steps forward.
I always liked that they had very short, concise, furious hardcore songs. But now there’s added heavier elements in the mix, a bit of doom especially, and these added parts succeed in blending in perfectly.
But just don’t take my word for it. Let’s listen to what they have to say and play:
“Ghost” starts with some ambient white noise and voices that lurk in the speakers and the corners of your mind. Then a hardcore rush is thrown upon us with the (complete) lyrics- “Constant reminder of the past/ a living ghost/ familiar face/ they look at me/ only see your face.” This is followed by some growling bass that leads us into a doom-y domain followed with a headbanging march that parades us out of this great song.
“Nothing Can Console Me”- “No flowers/ no eulogies/ no friends/ just empty rooms/ feel it out/ hear me out/ watch it all fade away.” This song is only fifteen seconds long but every second is great. It probably takes longer to read this than to listen to the song.
“Disillusion” breaks right out of the gate, piercing out eyeballs and destroying our illusions. “Eyes forced open to all that is rotten/ growing nauseous from the constant repetition.” This song is an exploding bomb of passion, venom and anger only pausing to let a guitar feedback glow.
With some fuzzed out bass leading us in, “Guilty Conscience” bashes our heads in with ruthless, colliding rhythms. Soon some doom-y ringing guitar chords beckons us towards a hard rockin’, hardcore romp. “Bound to your shame/ no escape/ meet your end/ Your debt won’t be repaid/ the blood is on your hands.” This song has an awesome, gruesome groove that rides like a fire truck set on fire at midnight, driving through the hills of hades. Towards the end we glide into a heavy, headbanging part that just puts the cherry on top of another great, passionate tune. My favorite song on the album.
After a few slashing, destructive chords, answered with a wailing feedback, while the manic drumming chops off limbs and entrails, we are introduced to “Lilac City.” This song has two rhythms that alternate but both rip a whole in your motherlovin’ heart that is then stuffed full with energy and venom. This is intense, this is rockin’, this is powerful, this is a great song.
“Dreamer” is an awesome hardcore explosion with some added death vocals and a doom part worthy of Black Sabbath and “Heretical Transgression” is very weird and experimental and I really like it.
With an echoing, tremolo drenched surf lick, “Return” starts eerily energetic. And once the vocals come in we’re enveloped in a churning, escalating rhythm as all hell breaks loose. Towards the end a doom breakdown takes the song out in a glorious, metal blaze.
“No compassion/ No opinion/ Keep the peace/ Fucking useless…They won’t listen/ Make them listen/ Burn it down.” In one minute “Property” says more and is more worthwhile than most bands entire albums.
One of the most rewarding facets of TNB, besides the knowledge that each ounce of my hearing is being destroyed weekly, is seeing bands that have promise and great ideas but maybe, at the start, not the skill or experience to fully realize them.
But to see them grow and get stronger, change and make good choices, is life affirming- it makes you feel like you backed the right cause.
What I like so much about “Drear” is, I think someone could easily lump this in with “heavy/hardcore” or “metal influenced punk” and they’d be missing the best parts of the whole picture.
This band uses adjective like “grindcore” and “power violence” in their description of themselves that the best new hardcore bands I review – like Goolagoon, Exile, Horrible Earth and Neighborhood Shit- also use. These bands are creating a new hardcore or new metal, if you wish. Their music is heavy, with some doom elements, contain overdrive hardcore rhythms and have songs that are short, brutal and hard- swift, honest and uncompromising. This band is one part of a music that is new, of the time and totally worthy of your notice.
With this album, I believe, Crystal Methodist joins the ranks of the best new hardcore bands that are in New England. Hell, I usually talk about four songs in a review and I just counted nine!
And I don’t need to snort no crystal meth or pray in any Methodist church to feel really good about this album.
(Slimedog)
