Untired

“This is really fucking good! How is this band not signed?!” These were the first thoughts that came to mind while listening to Untired, the latest self-released EP from San Francisco thrashers Passive Aggressive. Although the band has been kicking around the underground since 2003, this is my first exposure to them and it leaves me craving more.

Referring to Passive Aggressive as “thrashers” doesn’t really do their sound justice though. On Untired, the band conjures up a strange old brew of thrash, black metal, doom, traditional heavy metal and even a dash of hardcore punk over the course of four tracks and nineteen minutes. Basically, it’s a crash course in ass-kicking and a great overview of what the band is capable of on both a musical and conceptual level.

The EP kicks things off with “Privately Distraught”, which is probably the most traditionally thrash-sounding of the four tracks here. But Passive Aggressive aren’t content to simply churn out thrash-by-numbers (unlike so many other bands I could name), adding some eerie slow sections, blackened tremolo riffs and a breakdown halfway through the song that’s pure punk rock. Then comes “Strength of a Thousand Fucks”, which really brings the band’s punk/hardcore influences to the fore. According to the band’s blog, they were going for a Discharge-meets-metal type song here and they very much succeeded, sounding a thousand times more authentic than any of the supposedly crust/d-beat-influenced bands currently clogging up the metal scene in the process. Up next is “Personal Terror”, a track that lives up to its name by going through a lot of unorthodox twists and turns. The song’s frantic structure and pacing perfectly suits the hallucinatory lyrics, coming off a bit like German thrash on psychedelics. Last but not least, Passive Aggressive slows things down for “Untired”, a swaggering, atmospheric doom work-out, that sees burly riffage flowing out of the band like hot magma. ”Untired” is simply an outstanding track that closes out the EP on a ridiculously high note and makes me want to push “play” again as soon as it’s over.

To top things off, Untired as a whole sounds killer. The production is clear enough to allow each instrument plenty of space in the mix, but dark and filthy enough to suit the band’s gnarly mixture of styles. The recording quality, along with the obvious attention paid to songwriting, helps Untired flow together as a cohesive work in spite of the myriad influences on display.

If you’re a fan of any or all of the genres mentioned in this review, do yourself a favor and check out Passive Aggressive’s Untired. Over the course of a four song EP, these guys have managed to blow 99% of the metal I’ve heard this year out of the fucking water. I can’t think of a better endorsement than that.

originally written for http://thatshowkidsdie.com