Under Pressure
Come Clean
Better than a sampler operated by Brian Baker and Greg Graffin
Black metal alert! Black and white album art! Grainy pictures of forests ablaze! A vocalist by the name of, er, Cam Popham? Okay, there’s no black metal to be had within a country mile of the second full-length from this Winnipeg band, but throw a cursory glance in this direction and tell me ye olde corpsepainted legions aren’t going to give Come Clean a double-take based on its initial appearance and aesthetics.
What Under Pressure actually play is grizzled and noisy punk rock that swings between gravelly takes on old masters like Dag Nasty and Bad Religion (“One in One” and “Tranquilizer”), concrete heavy slabs of Houdini-era Melvins and the prod ‘n’ plod of fellow “Winterpeg”-ers, Kittens (“I Explode”). But it doesn’t stop there, because this lot is constantly in motion and that’s what’s especially enjoyable about this record. The quartet can spin on a dime and blast out exceptionally melodic, ’90s Midwest-influenced punk rock like “Suspension” and “The Crawl,” driving Black Flag-ish skronk on “Sick/Sinful” or echo-y post-punk like Killing Joke on “Muddy Water.” It’s solid, no-frills punk rock where each song possesses its own identity. The band claws back through their record collections, covering a decent amount of sonic ground while being able to pull off each exploratory subgenre leap and bound with an air of authenticity, heart and soul. That alone makes this album very worthy of your attention. —Kevin Stewart-Panko
