Calgary post-punk quartet goes all out in self-titled LP
After 2014’s “Cassette EP,” punk fans are treated to a band coming into its own in a big way with Viet Cong, released on Jan. 20. Featuring former members of the beloved Calgary band Women, post-punk group Viet Cong’s self-titled LP was long awaited, and was it ever worth the wait.
Opening with thunderous, crushing drums and monotone, dissonant vocals, the first track, “Newspaper Spoons,” immediately draws us into the album’s meticulous blending of synths, guitars, reverb-heavy drums, and monotone vocals – something akin to Wire’s 1978 record Chairs Missing, but a wholly unique product.
Things pick up and get frantic with “March of Progress”; a hypnotic, repetitive, and syncopated drum groove breaks into strange, shimmering acoustic chords (though I can’t tell you what instrument it is) panning from speaker to speaker, then drifts into cascading, chorus-and-octave-pedal-soaked electric guitar passages. The band’s keen sense of texture really gets through in this track; retaining its essentially punk energy, the songs wear their inventiveness on their sleeves without getting alienatingly cerebral.
More oddly syncopated bass and guitar interplay permeates “Bunker Buster,” and this track breaks into the album’s standout, “Continental Shelf.” I really can’t say enough about this one – it’s incredible. Everything, from the powerful melodic hook to the stirring chorus and intensely emotional vocals, makes this a standout single, and probably one of the best Canadian rock songs of the year thus far. It is rightfully the cornerstone of the LP, and the first song you’d want to show someone who asks “What do they sound like?”
The album closes with the 11-minute “Death,” and in its length it ranges from a consistent drum pattern to a droning, shoegaze-informed midsection, and back again to more frantic timbres and energy. How they make 11 minutes consistently interesting and life affirming is beyond me, but it closes an incredible album with a strong sense of narrative arc and a stirring reflection on the past half-hour of music.