Paint It Black

Amnesia EP

[4/5]



Thanks to one entrepreneurial frat boy, the world faces the impending death of the album. Napster lit the fuse on the bomb that imploded the music industry and with it, the full-length record. After seven years and three full-lengths, Paint It Black announced their intention to release their new music as 7-inch EPs. Though not necessarily inspired by the waning interest in albums, their decision portends the impact of technology and industry changes on punk and hardcore. Paint It Black’s animus is that the 7-inch is the optimum format for such music, which makes sense considering the early significance of the form (Black Flag’s Nervous Breakdown, Minor Threat’s Minor Threat).

Paint It Black pull no punches on Amnesia. Unlike New Lexicon’s experimental detours, these five songs stay the hardcore course. Yemin shouts lines like, “My intelligent design: no submission,” while his band seethe like disgruntled postal workers. Each song is a calculated explosion of slashing guitars and hammering drums with biting bass lines that solidify the attack. Yet they’ve learned well from the masters (Minor Threat, 7 Seconds, Gorilla Biscuits) and lather their rage in wide swaths of melody. Yemin mastered this art in his former musical lives (Lifetime and Kid Dynamite), and Paint It Black are the culmination of his mission to create hummable hardcore that is cerebral and physical.

Andy Nelson begins “Salem” with a wall-shaking bass line that recalls the opening to Ceremony’s “Dead Moon California,” and the song explodes in a similar paroxysm of fury. Yemin slays his religious fanatic enemies in a hail of machine-gunned lyrics. That such a snap of aural violence can seamlessly transition to the melodic corona of “Homesick” reveals Paint It Black’s formidable abilities as songsmiths of the highest punk order.

Guitarist Josh Agran layers thick walls of power chords with ringing Bob Mould-like arpeggios across the EP. “Bliss” boasts memorable guitar melodies that coalesce nicely with Jared Shavelson’s sniper-precise drum fills. Effortlessly balancing melody, rage and musical prowess, Paint It Black demonstrate that fast music is best served on a 7-inch platter. (BRIDGE NINE) Casey Boland

GO DOWNLOAD: “Bliss”