From the church of sludgy punk staples like the Melvins and Jesus Lizard come the Williamsburg, Brooklyn, discord-loving disciples Freshkills and their new testament of melodic-not-pretty post-hardcore.
Guttural and gritty, the MP3 “My House” is a throwback to ’80s cassettes that garble into a growling mess. Freshkills sound is intelligible, even polished, but they maintain the old-school aesthetic of crackling amplifiers and atonal vox.
So the chords crunch and the snare pops like they would’ve in a dingy basement twenty years ago, while vocalist Zach Lipez leads his quintet with timeless heart. “I’ve got a couch and a pool in my house,” he chants repeatedly. And even though, taken literally, these lines are unlikely in the band’s modest urban ‘hood, the words, like the band’s throwback sound, ring true regardless.
