Abomination Revealed at Last

After recent forays into synth pop and more experimental territory where triggered loops were paired with Dexys Midnight Runners-style horns, Osees make a detour into the boiling cauldron of punk rock on ABOMINATION REVEALED AT LAST. John Dwyer and his crack band rip and tear through an albums worth of blistering screeds against the turmoil that had enveloped the world at the time of recording. Based around a double-drum attack, hammering bass lines, and Dwyers jagged shards of guitar, along with the occasional coating of queasy synths, the songs are alternately short and brutal or long and brutal with Dwyer shouting, cajoling, bullying, and yowling over the top. Its never easy to predict exactly what an Osees album will sound like, but this comes close to what one might expect the bands core to be constructed of if they took samples. One layer would be brief flashes of super-charged punk noise like "ABOMINATION" and "ASHES 2," where Dwyer sounds barely contained by the capabilities of microphones and the band race each other to the finish line. Another would be evilly swaggering tracks like "INFECTED CHROME" or "GLUE" that come across like the menacing offspring of a late-night meeting between glam and prog rock. Add in almost poppy songs like "GLITTER-SHOT," amped-up garage rock ("COFFIN WAX"), and elongated art rock that meanders but never gets lost ("FLIGHT SIMULATOR"), and the album feels like the very essence of the Osees. Drenched in sweat, slathered in noise, and played with all the energy of a pack of lions who havent eaten for a week, ABOMINATION isnt only textbook Osees, its a bracing reminder to wake up and rock out, channel anger into riffs and drumrolls, and be as punk as punk can be. ~ Tim Sendra