Unholy Thoughts 'the Attic' 12"LP

Wow, the debut album The Attic by Richmond, VA crust punk rockers Unholy Thoughts blows by so fast that I hardly realized how far into it I was while listening, until I checked the track list and realized I was on their final hard groovin’, thrill killer, “The Situation.” The press kit says some gobbledygook about the band sounding like Jerry’s Kids, Annihilation Time, and Thin Lizzy in a blender. That’s not a bad mix in theory (these guys actually sound ALOT like Annihilation Time...not a bad thing), and a rarity in terms of press sheet honesty. I like that nail on the head kind of stuff; not enough of it out there with all of those label PR teams and pushers often blowing the king’s ransom of hot air. 

“Excess/Black and Red” begins with a swampy, military slog through the marshlands, the riffing holding Eyehategod and Cavity’s grooves and tempos hostage at gunpoint. Noodling, rock n’ roll lead licks occasionally slither into the sludgy diorama and wildly shake the trees, dropping a few d-beat hammered melons and mid-tempo, circle pitting crust punk coconuts in the wake of all those shakes. After that, the majority of this record is a whirling dervish of fast, fast, fast, fast, and faster punk with a few really neat change-ups and a rock n’ roll flair. “Hell is Other People” brings in a shredding, Lizzy-esque lead break and a bluesy bass slapping ethic during its midsection break, before nuking DIY venues across the states with pure, unhinged fury. The mid-tempo, heavy rock grooves, filthy guitar tones, and manic shouts of “Earthquake” remind me of the bluesy riff based stuff that Nineshocksterror did so well in their prime. And while slovenly, slouchy heft comes across clearly on tracks like “The Situation,” the majority of this record is some variant of the word “fast.” This band works with an, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” blueprint, and they don’t stray from it often…like any punk band worth their salt should, though the cool rock n’ roll touches definitely give them a bit of an identity amongst a crowded pack of similar minded squatters. 

This is a fucking true blue punk rock record. So I hope my review echoes that. No need to complicate things here, or go track for track; it simply is what it is. It kicked my ass by the way, and anyone into the crusty, freight train powerful hardcore/crust side of the tracks should pick up this scorcher. The end…