Though the caustic and sinewy
Hash Redactor was formed by established members of the Memphis garage punk scene, their full-length debut,
Drecksound, manages to elude all the trappings that can make side projects or would-be super groups fall flat. While the band shares the entire rhythm section of
NOTS and an
Ex-Cult member,
Hash Redactor is decidedly its own thing.
Drecksound bears some similarities to its creators' other projects -- hints of
NOTS' jagged grooves that lean towards pop just to scoff at it with dissonance, a more humorous shade of the darkness that surrounds
Ex-Cult -- but these songs are set apart by an anxious urgency that keeps the entire album on the brink of collapse. This is immediately evident on "Good Sense," an opening track that pushes a bass-driven post-punk riff to its breaking point, building intensity and volume ever upward until the song ends in a squall of feedback. Dual guitars are noisy and unhinged but also locked in tight synchronization, with razor-sharp leads adding simmering tension to songs like "Down the Tubes" and "Step 2: Success." Most of the album finds singer/guitarist Alec McIntyre deadpanning spoken/scowled vocals in the same style
Protomartyr adapted from
the Fall, though closer inspection of his lyrics reveals hilariously dark tales and observations hidden beneath the sneers. This collection of deranged lyrics and buzzsaw guitar skronk never wavers, laying out a bleak environment that recalls
Swell Maps-like dystopian pop and occasionally evokes the same enraged explosions of the
Birthday Party's earliest music, as on the guttural grind of final song "Floral Pattern." Some of Memphis' finest break out of their known patterns with
Drecksound. While cut from the same cloth as their already exciting established projects,
Hash Redactor's excellent and terrifying songs explore perspectives on desperation, panic, and nihilism that feel unique to their particular dark chemistry. ~ Fred Thomas