This thing was recorded in 2005, but it just came out a few weeks ago. I don’t know what happened. In any case, the Towers side of this thing is about as good as any Towers record, which means it’s fucking awesome. The production is a little bit raw, but it suits the style, which is sort of a heavy, Melvins-inspired interpretation of the more interesting side of late ‘90s punk. Kinda. They remind me a lot of early Refused. None of this is making any sense, but the heavy riffs on songs like “Training to Be a Cage Fighter” are great, but it’s the spacey parts with minimal guitar work that really flesh out the band’s sound. Sadly, the Take Down Your Art side does absolutely nothing for me. It sounds weak and uninspired, and they have lyrics about the phoenix and drowning in the sky or something, which is screams “teenage art school student” so loud that it makes my ears bleed.
–Ian Wise (Somberlain)