Shellacs 2024 album To All Trains was clearly not meant to be the bands final statement or a grand summation of their musical and intellectual philosophies, but it has been thrust into the curious position of being read as just that by a cruel turn of fate. Steve Albini, Shellacs guitarist, primary vocalist and songwriter, and their first among equals, died unexpectedly on May 7, 2024, ten days before To All Trains was released. At least on first listen, its practically impossible to listen to the music without hearing it through the filter of grief, which is odd, since this is music that sounds muscular, vital, and very much alive. To All Trains ten songs zip by in a breezy 28 minutes, and it lacks a grand-scale tour de force like "The End of Radio" from 2007s Excellent Italian Greyhound or "Didnt We Deserve a Look at You the Way You Really Are" from 1998s Terraform. This is Shellac as a lean, mean math rock machine, and the concision of the songs makes this a breathless, energetic listening experience. This music cuts to the chase, and Albinis abrasive, hot-wired leads, Bob Westons rubbery, deeply rooted bass lines, and Todd Trainers drumming, at once precise and intent on exploring all rhythmic possibilities, are well served by this approach. This is the fiercest LP in Shellacs catalog, and once again theyve delivered a master class in dynamics and how a trio can play together; each voice and instrument stands out, fitting together with an efficiency so well executed it takes a few spins to absorb how entertaining, exciting, and yes, fun, they can be. Lyrically, these ten tracks are loaded with jaundiced wit and purposeful venom, as they celebrate karaoke, female new wave bands, urban scrap salvagers, and an inflatable icon of organized labor and shake their heads at self-obsession and malignant hubris of all sorts. Albini (who takes the bulk of the lead vocals) inhabits or comments upon his characters with the zeal and shading of a great actor. (Listeners are allowed to read what they will into the last song being titled "I Dont Fear Hell," an unsurprising perspective from the singers world view.) Within Shellacs sonic universe, To All Trains is all bangers, kicking out their trademark jams in Albini-style high fidelity and dashing off the stage before we entirely notice theyre gone. Knowing its essentially impossible to replace Steve Albini in this band, even if Bob Weston and Todd Trainer continue to make music together (and given how good they are, one hopes they will), To All Trains is almost certainly the final Shellac album, but it isnt a maudlin curtain call. Its a document of a happily uncompromising band living out their vision and loving their art, and on that level, its as good a place as any to appreciate their (and his) singular brilliance. And it rocks. ~ Mark Deming

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