Squeals of feedback set the landscape for US AGAINST THEM and Vulpynes continue to develop as a compact but impetuous force of guitar noise. From what the ever-unreliable interwebs tell me, this was supposed to be one half of a long-overdue debut album, but 2020 being the arse-candle that it is (or was at this point), all things worthy must come to a grinding halt. And so, prepared tracks materialise as the band’s 3rd 4-track EP in a row – If there’s any lingering impatience for a full-length release, it’s likely to be most heavily concentrated within the ranks of the band.
ONE HORSE MIND centres itself around an intrepid bluesy vocal over garage punk. This is very familiar Vulpynes to those who already know the deal, but the continued tweaks and refinements of this highly individual style are evident – no mean feat for a 2-piece band. THIS MOTOR IS ME breaks into a fearless kinetic rampage with a generous serving of self-assured lyrical growls, although it’s sometimes difficult to dig beyond the general vibe and into the guts of the song. As with previous releases, one criticism is that there are no printed lyrics to accompany this (at least, not on the CD version… at the time of writing, the 12” vinyl version is still in Never-Never-Land). SISTER is the track that gives the EP its title and is somewhat of a mission statement… possibly the band’s call to arms… and while “Us Against Them” may suggest dispossession, paranoia or being backed into a corner, this resolutely a chunk of positive punk rock. Finally, CONTROL IS NOT WHAT I NEED beats out a dense groove of caustic 90’s style alt-rock with an irreverent vocal that glides, drones and slurs across the top of everything.
US AGAINST THEM is just under 14 minutes of music and is the best thing the band has released to date … a confident and purgative auricular cleanse of fuzzy riffage, metronomic drum stomp and impassioned vocal abrasion all scrunched up into a worthy, gnarling hairball of an EP… that’s all there is to say really!
