OK I could pretend that this album came right out of the blue and smacked me full in the mouth but actually, for something so heavy, it didn’t. It rather snuck round the back and mugged me when I was least expecting it. What the fuck is it? It’s not exactly punk in the musical sense, although it has those sensibilities… it’s not exactly noise because, frankly, there’s far too much going on, even by Suicide standards… and it’s not exactly… well actually the more you get into it the more you realise that it’s its own thing… and it’s pretty thrilling. 

Listening to the album again I’m struck by quite how much it builds up more and more track by track… the intensity reaching the sort of levels where you feel like you must be in one of those pressurised tanks that divers use… stop this album half way through and you’re going to get the musical bends…

…and even then I’m not sure that I fully got it. Then I had the opportunity to see the band live at a small punk venue in Sheffield… there was a mixed bag on that night from hardcore to some very old punks (well at least as old as I am… I last saw The Varukers in 1981)… what struck me was that while I appreciated all the bands that played to some extent or other most of the fans of those bands disappeared into the ether once The Shits came on… they were the only band that night who defied genre… and I was back to the start of this post (which I originally wrote two months ago).

I revisited the album when I knew I was going to see the band, and found that it hit me afresh… I was struck again by the mixture of dark heaviness and vitality… something that was amplified even more by The Shits live performance, further emphasised by a belligerence which I can only describe as being ‘very Leeds’ (I know having lived there for twenty years).

All in all this is a stunning set which, it seems, is continuing to pay out in new and unexpected ways.

‘You’re A Mess’ is released by Rocket Recordings and available here.

-o0o-

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