It is undeniable that in hardcore music there has been a shift towards rock’n’roll that has resulted in the genre receiving an ‘amp up’ – pardon the pun. Plague Vendor are the latest hard-edge band to release an album, that while unrelenting, offers a few hooks to let those of us without shaved heads or black tear tattoos to access their music.
The listener is not left waiting too long until the first hook plants itself firmly in your aural processor. At 1:19 on opening song Black Sap Scripture a squalling guitar riff gives way to the vocals of Brandon Blaine subtly entoning, “ba ba bam ba bam bam bam ba bam / amputated my limbs and gave me eight eye / bam bam ba ba bam” before the previous guitar line drops with twice the ferocity. This is enthralling stuff.
Like fellow Californians Fidlar, Plague Vendor play music worthy to sit beside DC punk legends Black Flag and Fugazi, but unlike their aforementioned compatriots Plague Vendor don’t embrace the bratty youthfulness of California punk that Fidlar do, instead remaining desperately raucous.
The volcanic attitude of the song Hexed Lust captures the explosive sexual power of punk rock with the sonic elements of this song in line with Refused, At The Drive In and even the same posture as Iggy Pop’s Wanna Be Your Dog.
According to their bio on Epitaph’s website – that’s right, they’re on arguably the world’s most respected rock label – the name was inspired by a Mexican Folk tale that band-mates Blaine, Michael Perez (bass), Luke Perine (drums), and Jay Rogers (guitar) had read with this tale inspiring the themes of some of the songs on the album.
Song My Tongue Is So Treacherous appears to draw upon a mariachi tonality, especially as the intro spins off as something from a Tarantino movie. While seeming a little too easy to make a comparison, At The Drive In is called for.
The energy and urgency in Plague Vendor’s sound is most tangible in track five, Numbers. This 55 second freak-out builds, peaks, then falls – a fast-tracked trip but meaningful all the same.
As alluded to in the previous comment, economy on time is a key feature of Free To Eat with the entire ten track album coming in at a brief 17 minutes and 40 seconds – but that’s all Plague Vendor needed to get me hooked (truth be told they had me after 90 seconds).
BY DENVER MAXX
Best Track: Black Sap Scripture
If You Like These You Will Like: Relationship Of Command AT THE DRIVE-IN, The Shape Of Punk To Come REFUSED, Fidlar FIDLAR, Remember When THE ORWELLS
In A Word: Enthralling
