Review: The Blood Brothers - Young Machetes (or) set fire to anything else on fire

Posted on 6 October 2006 | 2 Comments

Filed Under: Album Reviews, Hardcore & Metal, New Wave

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Read all my posts from the past week and you’ll probably say WTF is this guy thinking? I just want to apologize for going easy on all of you. No worries, though right? Next Tuesday (October 10th) the new record from Seattle’s The Blood Brothers will be officially released. It was co-produced by Guy Picciotto (of Fugazi & Rites Of Spring) and is easily one of the best records of 2006 and will knock your socks off.

The record (which is called Young Machetes) is a bombastic frenzy that (while still sounding just like The Blood Brothers) finds the band growing as musicians and ambitiously exploring new sounds. During many songs it almost seems like the band is on the verge of imploding only to pull it right back together without missing a single furious beat. It’s the shotgun wedding of Barry Gibb’s Bee Gees disco classics with the grinding spasms of Converge. Maybe it’s like a Black Flag sucker-punch to the face of Charles Mingus. In other words, its dance music.

On Young Machetes the band sounds dangerous. Not like they are going to mug you and gunpoint dangerous, but (rather) dangerous with smirks on their faces as they wait for their next prank to unfold right on cue. The dual shrieks, screams and singing howls of vocalists Jordan Blilie and Johnny Whitney are the perfect accompaniment (or perhaps distraction) for the jagged guitars and buoyant and relentless rhythm section. Additionally, much of the album features some great keyboard melodies. It is artcore that swings.

While I’ve never had the opportunity to see the band live, I can just picture them flailing around the stage smashing everything in sight (including themselves). Young Machetes is a chaotic and tumultuous listen that shifts, shakes, and (ultimately) bashes its way into your head. Never a band to rest contentedly on their laurels, The Blood Brothers have taken another leap forward merging aggression and art into a noisy and brilliantly beautiful mess.

Young Machetes is out October 10th on V2 Records and the 2xLP vinyl (on limited edition 180 gram vinyl) will be released by Second Nature Recordings.

MP3 | The Blood Brothers – Lazer Life Young Machetes
MP3 | The Blood Brothers – Set Fire To The Face On Fire Young Machetes