Total Shutdown's self-titled debut sounds like
the Boredoms, Naked City, and
Brutal Truth all in a mad race for the finish line. Hard jazz, thrash, and punk slap you in the face from the start with only short breaks for lounge noodling and naïve melodies played on tinker-toy keyboards. Vocals are either Cookie Monster-styled growls or the screams and yelps that
Eye from
the Boredoms spits out. It would be easy to think
John Zorn is their spiritual leader, but there's more of a party atmosphere than the rather serious saxophonist has ever attempted. Things are varied enough to keep interest, and the band's playing is tight and handles all the twists and turns. At 26 minutes long (six minutes taken up by a trippy, meandering near-instrumental and one minute by total silence) it feels more like an EP than full-length, but much more of this aural onslaught and you'd be begging for relief. ~ David Jeffries