And This Army “Foe” CD

At the time when I reviewed the first record from And This Army, they were referring to their approach as "low-fidelity post-punk psychedelia", which to my ears sounded "more like pseudo hipster indie rock meets dark 80's new wave kind of stuff". I sort of liked it, but it just didn't do it for me in the end. Well, I'm very pleased to say that on their latest self-released CD-R (which I believe they're shopping around for a deal), "Foe", the Brooklyn trio has improved immeasurably, and the overall impact of their delivery seems to have undergone quite a change. The "low-fidelity post-punk psychedelia" tag makes a little more sense to me on this release in terms of an occasional sense of noisy chaos that erupts seemingly from out of nowhere, while the "more like pseudo hipster indie rock meets dark 80's new wave kind of stuff" no longer bears any relevance whatsoever, barring the monotone textures to the vocals or a certain air of darkness that's present in some of the more fluid, melodic, and restrained elements of the musical backdrop. They're certainly operating in a relatively interesting area that defies categorization within any basic genre. These tracks are much longer (the total of all six is nearly 45 minutes) and heavier than their past efforts, at times bordering on a droning brand of sludginess with ties to the raw, drawn out grooves of 70's-esque "stoner rock"—though I must point out that And This Army is simply not that kind of a band. There's just this powerfully unexpected, almost surprising sort of underlying pulse to the material that adds an intriguing sense of contrast. The recording helps accentuate this fact by perfectly blending the vocals against the instruments and giving the bass a pretty massive dead center role in the mix; while the vocals are so, so, so much fucking stronger than they were before. Honestly this is a pretty god damn impressive set of tunes. I'm really floored by the finest moments herein, to the point where certain aspects really hit me in a rare fuckin' manner. I'll be really curious to see what comes next for these cats, and I wish them all the best. Good shit...

And This Army "Blackbeard"

I believe you can download most (if not all) of these tracks from the band's website, so look into this shit—and spread the word! I don't really know what the deal is in terms of this material being self-released or the band looking to get these jams properly pressed up by a label, but someone should jump on this shit, 'cause it's good. Damn good. I really am impressed by And This Army's growth to date.