At The Drive-In pump energy into rock scene in new album
At The Drive-In
in•ter a•li•a
FILE UNDER: Game starters turned changers
WHAT’S DIFFERENT: The passage of time didn’t dull any of the edges the members of At The Drive-In forged on their last LP, 2001’s Relationship Of Command. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Keeley Smith create tangled guitar helixes and charging riffs; frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala is one part street preacher, the other radical paramilitary poet (“Continuum,” “Hostage Stamps”); and the rhythm section of Paul Hinojos and Tony Hajjar are pure firepower.
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: Nearly 25 years ago, ATDI were an undeniable force in not only defining the post-hardcore movement, but crucial provocateurs in expanding its very aesthetic. in•ter a•li•a isn’t about capturing a zeitgeist as much as it is about jumpstarting some urgency in a rock scene that desperately needs more wild abandon and psychic plasma. The poet William Carlos Williams wrote, “The pure products of America go crazy.” ATDI prove he wasn’t lying.
OUR PICK: “Hostage Stamps”
