Anyone who has been paying attention over the last five years or so knows and (if pressed) will begrudgingly admit that rock n' roll has needed a transfusion of new blood for a little while. Not that all the recent rock releases have been been totally stale or flat, a lot of them have just seemed pretty tame; the big names who have broken through know where they've been, where they're going and that they've got fans following them but, at its best, rock has always been less certain than that. Rock needs the uncertainty and energy of youth to survive – that's where the danger and excitement of it comes from – and the infrastructure of the music needs to be burned down or torn apart so new hands can build it up again in their own image. That destructive action hasn't happened in a while and rock has lost a fair bit of stock in the pop market as a result but, now, it looks like Hunters' self-titled album (their debut full-length) might just be the one which burns rock's house down again and forces the music to start fresh with a whole (previously unseen) community of excited fans hungry for something new that they can call their own.
From the second “Narcissist” stomps forth to introduce the record, some listeners will recognize a clip in Thomas Martin's overdriven bass which is equal parts ambition, aggression, hunger, piss, spit, grit and back alley grime which is instantly exciting. They'll know the scent instinctively and their pulses will begin to race in anticipation. That anticipation will keep building as Greg Giuffre's drums and co-singer/guitarist Derek Watson join in and get some collegiate gutter punk strains swirling; but the whole world just seems to stop for a minute when Watson's guitar recoils and co-singer Izzy Almeida just belts out the song's chorus. That moment is as fantastic as it is inimitable. Some might compare it to the interplay between Jon Spencer and Cristina Martinez in Boss Hog, but that's not right – that was far more polished. That was tongue-in-cheek. That was calculated. This is teeth gritted and fists swinging blindly in the face of fear. This is hungry, urgent alt-punk which screams, “No guts, no glory!” This is beautiful.
The beginning presented by “Narcissist” is good, but it only gets better as Hunters goes. “Street Trash,” “She's So” and “Seizure” all extend the alt-punk sound and images to excellent ends as Watson and Martin tighten up just a little more – savagely hammering home a rhythm which sees the guitar play off the bass and vice versa – but also takes care to guarantee that there are no wasted movements and everything is totally song-serving. Each track just blasts in through and out in about three and a half minutes each.
Some listeners will appreciate that ‘needs-only’ approach that Hunters slams out on the first half of the album; it will feel like a much needed breath of fresh air. Even so, at roughly the same time Derek Watson breaks the hypnotic, two chord rhythm figure which characterizes “Nosebleed” with a bracing, clean-toned bridge, listeners will suddenly realize that there was a missing piece.
That bridge presents the idea that there are even more possibilities in Hunters' sound and the result is ground-shaking. The moments that keep coming as the loud/quiet dynamics of “Blackheart” and the liveware guitar solo (!!) in “Thin Twin” continue to shatter listeners' assumptions of Hunters and the expectations they have of this album.
After listeners' minds are left reeling (again) by the one-two-three connection of “Nosebleed,” “Blackheart” and “Thin Twin,” Hunters returns o center and lets listeners regain their composure with the easy denouement represented by “Undone” and “Wonder,” but the damage will have already been done by then. Listeners will have been shaken to their foundations; they'll be nervous, but they'll also want more and there won't be any going back. As soon as they come to grips with that truth, the excitement of Hunters will overtake them completely and nothing will ever seem the same again. Eventually, they'll come to realize that the release of this record was the moment when everything changed (again), and started fresh in the best way imaginable.
Artist:
www.huntershunters.com/
www.huntersny.bandcamp.com/
www.momandpopmusic.com/artists/hunters/
www.facebook.com/huntersny
www.huntershunters.tumblr.com/
www.instagram.com/huntershunters#
www.twitter.com/huntershunters
Download:
Hunters – Hunters – “Seizure” – [mp3]
Album:
Hunters is out now. Buy it here on Amazon .
