Featuring dudes who have played in DISBAND, WE VERSUS THE SHARK, THE ARROGANT SONS OF BITCHES, CINEMECHANICA, and BOMB THE MUSIC INDUSTRY!, PEGASUSES-XL truly represent a cornucopia of musical influences. The band’s music is sometimes based in synthetic electro-punk, sometimes based in frantic post-punk, and most of the times just plain weird. The Antiphon is their debut full-length, and it stays true to all of the above descriptions. Opener “Drugs For Change” is a creepy, synth-infused tune that feels like walking through a haunted house with the primary scare creatures being a marching band kid, a ballerina, and a chainsaw-carrying fella. Things are a little less weird as the album plays on. “Gold Power” is your basic low-fi punk song, “Serious Feelings” is a trance-like affair with lots of blips and bleeps, and “Walking Life” is a pretty groovy track that somehow borders the line between vocodor users HELLOGOODBYE and Nintendo rockers HORSE THE BAND. The band’s attempt at damaged hip-hop in “Atmospheric Skull” is admirable at best, but their best performance comes in the surprisingly upbeat “Marathon Mansion” where one of the vocalists takes the lead over a giddy piano and drum lead. If you can get past the initial shock and weirdness that comes along with listening to PEGASUSES-XL, there is actually a lot of quirky substance to be embraced. Props to the band for making a commendable album.

Ernest Jenning

www.ernestjenning.com