Meat Shirt

Reviews

Meat Shirt Acid Dove 12″

There is a sort of psychedelic sheen to this sunkissed, driving punk, with its chorus-dripping guitars and expansive sound all anchored to a full-charge beat and vocals with capital “C” conviction. This band means it while still having fun, as evidenced on tracks like the brief but outstretching anthem “War Against War,” which features a glut of ideas in under two minutes. There’s an artfulness to this approach to punk, but rather than bogging things down, it’s also a blast to listen to from start to finish. Pretty damn impressive.

Meat Shirt Army of Dolphins EP

French punks who take the risky approach of throwing different styles at the wall to see what sticks, with surprisingly strong results. The first few tracks have a straight-ahead USHC sound with shouted vocals and chord progressions that sound like early BLACK FLAG. There are hints of other things going on as well though, such as gang vocals on “Sugar” and “Watching You!” that evoke the melodic youth crew of INSTED. Layers of guitars build into alt/psych walls on “Burning Bilderburg” and the ending of “Watching You!,” and “Army of Dolphins” is a flanged-out psych swirl that is as satisfying as it is bewildering among the surrounding hardcore. I am usually wary of bands incorporating too much into their sound to the point that it thins out the overall effect, but MEAT SHIRT does it right and delivers a compelling EP.