Naarm/Melbourne band Snailgun have just delivered their debut album ‘Glass Wall’, and it’s a deliciously scabrous affair filled with blistering post punk cathartic noise. The genetic make up of this album is hard to define – a mix of bands like Idles with a thunderous chaotic storm in the wilderness.
Opening track ‘SD’ sets the bar high: a scorching slightly chaotic blast of excoriating punk delivery that has genetic traces back to Johnny Rotten’s quavering Sex Pistols vocals with the instrumental complexity of P.I.L. The pace is pulse quickening and throbs with a cathartic disdain and howl of feedback hovering at the edges. The slight atonal roar is discombobulating, the delivery razor sharp and the long outro rockets you now space.
Second track ‘Labyrinth’ dials back the sonic onslaught with more focus on the vocals over a percussive thunder – swaggering and imbued with attitude: a sneery disdain. The lyrics are hypnotic through repetition and opaque, slightly threatening over the wailing stabbing guitars and a surprise saxophone intervention.
I’m building
I’m building
I’m building
A labyrinth in my basement
And a tiger
It’s mechanical
It’s gonna run on diesel
You won’t be laughing
You won’t be laughing
When you get caught in the labyrinth
I’m building
A labyrinth
You won’t be laughing in my basement
‘Straight Ahead’ continues with a frenetic pace, vocal urgent and exhortative softened by backing vocals. It’s an out of control freight train without brakes: a sonic cyclone that just seems to get louder and more chaotic. ‘Shadow Operator’ almost – almost – provides a little rest with its low-fi slacker delivery and jangly guitars, a hint of a pop sensibility that peeps through the gloom with a poetic blush:
Ivory length of bone
Underneath white sand
Rolling blue of tide
Fading pink of hand
Instrumental track ‘Midway I ‘ opens up the horizons slightly with an open jagged angular blast and an anthemic riff, roaming the sonic landscape. It is partnered with ‘Midway II’ that mixes an element of screaming death growl delivery with soft melodic choruses over chugging eloquent guitars
‘It’s Called Fear’ encompasses the feel of darkness and anxiety threaded throughout the album, delivered over a thundering ambulant bass and scything guitars with an astute intelligent observation on that very anxiety:
You can take anger
Subtract power
Is there a word for that?
Some kind of calculus
It’s called fear
Final track ‘Screamy Cats’ features scaling guitars over a rumbling bass and distant melodies that coalesce into an indelible chorus. The song has an extended outro, roaming over a bleak sonic landscape, prowling with intent with scaling riffs. By the time it ends, you feel thoroughly defenestrated in the most satisfying way.
‘Glass Walls’ is a nuclear bomb of a debut: acerbic, sardonic and bleak, filled with the odd ray of sunshine that filers through the dark clouds. The guitars cut through the atmosphere like a scythe wielded by a crazed post-apocalyptic demon and the lyric reveal a poetic weariness, louche and nihilistic.
‘Glass Walls’ is out now and available to download and stream via the link above or here.
Snailgun are appearing live this month – details below and tickets here.
You can catch Snailgun launching the album in May – details below and tickets here.
