by Michael Kemp (@themichaelkemp)
Boston’s Aneurysm has been making dirty noisy rock for years now. With cover art by Mark McCoy (Youth Attack) and recorded at God City Studios, Awareness is the evolution of a band that is moving ferociously forward. Awareness is a perfect example of controlled chaos. Tethering on the edge of a staircase, but never completely falling into the dirty dank basement. Aneurysm brings solid driving rhythms that relentlessly punch you square in the face.
Like your songs with meandering intros? Move it along. Aneurysm comes in hard and to the point. Hitting you hard and hitting you fast. Awareness is punishing in the way consensual BDSM is punishing. You’ll be left sweaty, tired and possibly bruised, but so good. Noisy, grungy and yet completely efficient. There are no wasted moments. They pack more into a two-minute song that some manage to put into an EP. The music and vocals are always supporting and building in the way causes a truly visceral reaction. Aneurysm is an incredible marriage of noise rock and early grunge; thickened filthy rhythms with some straight-up ripping guitars. Vocals that are more Mark Arm than David Yow really drive Awareness.
Opening track “Sorry Dad” is a total banger that foreshadows what you are going to be getting into. “National Embarrassment” and “Handbook for the Recently Diseased” both contain some of the best bass lines heard in a long time. Seriously people, remember bass? “Newport” is a bouncy grunge number that could’ve been found on an early Sub Pop comp. If you like the noisy and dirty side of punk, you couldn’t go wrong with Awareness. There isn’t a single bummer on this album. Twenty-five minutes of complete bliss.