When Baltimore noise rock quartet
Dope Body finished their third album, 2014's
Lifer, they had a surplus of additional songs and miscellaneous recordings left over. In 2015 they presented the best of these additional pieces as
Kunk, an almost mixtape-like companion piece to
Lifer.
Kunk was experimental and frenetic, reflecting the constant shifting
Dope Body had been going through over the course of their nonstop activity since forming seven years earlier. The band briefly parted ways in 2016, but they were playing shows and recording again by 2019, with 2020's home-recorded mixtape Home Body continuing the stylistically all-over-the-place approach they were moving toward just before disbanding.
Crack a Light is by some counts the group's fourth proper studio album, and pushes their danceable art rock in new directions while keeping explosive energy at the center of every track. Album opener "Curve" blasts out of the gates with some familiar elements of the band's signature sound, with distorted bass, red-lined guitar, swaggering vocals, and hyperactive drumming all congealing into three minutes of tightly controlled chaos. Where earlier
Dope Body albums hinted at the influence of '90s freak rock bands like
Girls Against Boys or
Brainiac, songs like "Curve" or the jittery "Lethargic" follow trails blazed by those groups more apparently. There are also nods to the more metallic side of grunge in the
Nevermind-esque snare rolls of "The Sculptor" and the wailing chorus of album standout "Jer Bang" that recalls
Helmet at their angstiest. While
Dope Body seem to be rejuvenated from their time off and striking out with renewed power on many songs, they still explore more experimental avenues with several brief, noisy interludes and slower, dirgy tunes like "Mutant Being." Less scattered than their mixtape releases,
Crack a Light is
Dope Body firing on all cylinders with more force and focus than they showed on earlier albums. The production is sharper than anything they've achieved before as well, revealing more of the tension and catharsis that came off as simple, furious noise on earlier albums. It's one of the most exciting, complex, and captivating statements yet from a band already notorious for their electrifying turbulence.