by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
Split between Tampa and St. Louis, Terms is one of those positive notes of the pandemic, a long distance recording project that has continued to take shape in these post-lock down years. The duo of guitarist/bassist Chris Trull (Yowie) and drummer Danny Piechocki (Ahleuchatistas) play instrumental art rock, pulling between math rock, prog, and post-hardcore with a natural intuition. The band use their minimalist line-up to create maximalist punk, twisting and shaking in all directions like a duo possessed. This is math rock at it’s most interesting, peeling and pounding as the pair devolve melodies and collapse rhythms in constant motion. Everything is shifting, the ground has been pulled out beneath us before we ever had any footing to begin with. Set to release their second album, All Becomes Indistinct, on April 21st via Skin Graft Records (Psychic Graveyard, USA Nails, Cheer-Accident), Terms continue to circulate their way through the unknown.
Following the disjointed pulse of “Teetering Scree,” the band are sharing the record’s second single, the wiggly and absorbing “First Existential”. With guitar notes that have been bent like silly putty stretched beyond its limits and drums that opt for a scale of absolutely berserk to astoundingly frantic, Terms aren’t mucking about, but they are making a strong case for human dexterity. Joined by guest violinist Alex Cunningham, the trio surge from one idea to the next, remaining forever brilliantly off balance but entirely in sync, it’s a mind meld that is as delightful as it is mangled, the end result sounding something like an instrumental Primus played at double speed or Don Cab rattled and disassembled. Strings screech amid layers of sonic mayhem while the drums (holy hell, these drums) keep the song in a constant state of change, seamlessly moving in all directions at once.