The new album from All The Saints, Looks Like You're Going Somewhere, drops on Chunklet Industries this Friday and it's a beast. A delicious throwback to the Nineties, when bands like Nirvana and The Jesus Lizard were making music that seemed designed to make paint peel off the wall if cranked loud enough, this record is full of brutal and efficient bulldozer-like riffs.
"Gold" and "Lites" seem like the music of just about any band Steve Albini produced so many decades ago, even as the title cut on Looks Like You're Going Somewhere nods in the direction of Brit proto-shoegazers like Loop. All The Saints were the last band to sign to Touch & Go before the label scaled back, and I suppose that a lot of what's here on this record sounds like the bands on that label from its heyday. Still, there are interesting moments, like the piano-figure in "Casket", that suggest All The Saints are masters of more than one mood, even as they remain best at pummeling a listener's defenses. "Creak" is especially interesting. The tune is very nearly a psychedelic one, with a guitar-hook that spirals around even as the song itself seems part-stoner rock, and part-Sabbath homage. And while "Old Order" is almost funky, the power of the tunes from All The Saints are what make this band deserve your attention as a listener. Every cut here rocks in some way, with the band bringing a whole lot of variety to a genre that others had largely written off.
Looks Like You're Going Somewhere will be out digitally on Friday via Chunklet, with physical copies available later this month.
More details on All The Saints via the band's official Facebook page.
[Photo: Elliott Fuerniss]