Akimbo

Harshing Your Mellow

[4/5] On my list of very, very under-appreciated bands, one in particular sits noisily at the top-Akimbo. This calamitous three-piece have been blowing speakers and eardrums for the better part of a decade but still, somewhat remarkably, remain way below the radar of the average heavy music fan. If any justice in this world exists, the re-release of 2001’s Harshing Your Mellow will change all that. Dissonant and dangerous, the record’s 12 tracks swell and crest with such reckless abandon that it’s tough to truly keep up. The frenetic pace set by tracks like “Confessions Of A Small Scale Martyr” is offset nicely by more driving, thunderous efforts such as “Life In The Noose,” and it all comes together flawlessly. The shrieking of vocalist Jon Weisnewski and the thundering drum rolls of Nat Damm are as integral to the record’s success as the previously mentioned dissonance provided by guitarist Burke Eglington; it all just works. (ALTERNATIVE TENTACLES) Jordan Rogowski