Sometimes bands stay consistent over a career and keep putting out the same release, and others seem to take the path of CHRISTIANSEN, who go for the utter destruction of the uses of genre labels. Fortunately, their newly found sound isn’t all that strange to some of their contemporaries (…AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF THE DEAD, AT THE DRIVE-IN, FUGAZI…), but it’s certainly a shift from their previous off-kiler emo-rock that was featured on their debut Eulogy Records release. Anyway, the six songs on here are beautifully composed and show off a band that’s really confident in their ability to create a dizzying effort of sounds, styles, and enthusiasm. Most notably, the production on “Forensics…” is huge, carried by a juicy bass sound and discordant dual guitars that trade off each other fairly nicely. Vocalist Brandon Bondehagen has a singing approach that’s not too unlike Dennis from THE INTERNATIONAL NOISE CONSPIRACY (especially on the last track, “The Era of Murder by Simulation”), and he’s rather successful in making the listener think about shaking his or her booty. All six tunes (26 minutes) have a different flavor, but fit in well with the rest of the material. Another cool thing about this release is that the artwork is darn impressive, and clearly not an after-thought to the goals and statements made by CHRISTIANSEN. I dig the new direction this band has gone and I have a feeling that their next full-length is going to be mind-blowing.

Revelation Records

www.revelationrecords.com