Kylesa

To Walk A Middle Course

[4] On paper, it already makes no sense that a crusty, mixed-gender punk band from Savannah, Georgia, would find themselves at the top of mainstream rock critics’ “it” lists after years of willful obscurity on labels like Prank and At A Loss. It’s even harder to get your head around Kylesa’s current place in pop culture when you actually listen to the quartet’s second album-which, in sounding nothing like the fleeting stuff most people’s stereotypes of mainstream rock critics usually champion, completely rules because of its unwillingness to fit in anywhere. At its most accessible (which ain’t often), To Walk A Middle Course brings to mind scorched-earth sludge mongers Buzz*oven and His Hero Is Gone as covered by Nausea-meaning, it’s fiery, bottom-heavy and lethal in large doses; every gloriously foul thing a blend of crust, metal and Southern swamp water should be. (PROSTHETIC)-Aaron Burgess