by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Chicago's Great Deceivers are set to release Some on May 11th via Sooper Records (Nnamdi Ogbonnaya, Options, Water From Your Eyes), the follow up to last year's Ask Me About Your Strong Suits. The band's tightly wound math-rock is full of twists and turns, but their sound is rooted in a melodic beauty that keeps it seemingly restrained even during the most complex of jagged shifts. It's abrasive and technically brilliant but grounded and perpetually dreamy. While active in bands like Options and the Chicago's finest hardcore freaks CHEW, Great Deceivers retain their own nuances throughout Some, a dynamic record that finds the band drifting beyond blistering math-pop into their own uncharted territory.
"Basic Facts" is the perfect example of this, a song that trades in twinkly propulsion for an uneasy dirge into post-hardcore. The song slugs it out from the beginning, opening with a lo-fi clamor and radiant chord progressions that feel intent on building, adapting, and ultimately destroying. The stop/start rhythms allow the guitars to drag their force home, colliding with Seth Engel's enormous fills and Max Green's easily agreeable vocal melodies. "Basic Facts" writhes and thrashes itself into a caterwauling wall of sound, pushing through dense chaos into polyrhythmic glory.
Great Deceivers' Some EP is out May 11th via Sooper Records. The band will celebrate the release at Subterranean with Pile and Gnarwhal.