Birth (Defects) Fictional Days LP
Hell yeah—nice and sludgy, noisy as hell, and chorus pedals completely maxed out. Is it passé to make Spinal Tap references in the year of our lord 2026? Because if not, these guys bring it all the way up to eleven. This needs to be listened to as loud as possible. My one and only complaint: the vocals do not match the energy of the music. Now, I’m not naive enough to think that this wasn’t done intentionally, but when your band is playing music equivalent to the MELVINS on mescaline, I think it does it all a great disservice when your vocalist sounds like a mopier version of BECK. There are a couple tracks where the singer comes a bit more out of the pocket, like on the song “Scapegoat,” sounding a bit more like a poppier LARRY LIFELESS than your standard ’90s rock radio idol. Speaking of which, there are a handful of covers on this slab from bands like NIRVANA and SONIC YOUTH. Fun album if you like the heavier stuff. Worth a spin.