The Writhing Squares – Mythology (2024)          


Review:
Philly group the Writhing Squares sharpen their claws and dig into a gnarlier reading of their galactic clatter on their fourth album Mythology. In their earlier days, the band was a duo of Kevin Nickles and Daniel Provenzano, working with a limited toolkit of saxophone, bass, and raw electronics that melted together into murky grooves and noisy space rock freakouts. As the project went on, however, they expanded their range. The 2021 double album Chart for the Solution looked at their sound from all angles and fidelity, going from under-produced basement jams to fully orchestrated cosmic rockers with live drums, a relatively newer element for the Squares at that point. Drummer John Schoemaker appeared on the final song of that album, but became a more regular presence throughout Mythology, adding a human feel to the band’s extraterrestrial punk that drum machines simply didn’t offer. Songs like opening tune “Barbarians” and the relentlessly chugging “The Damned Thing” make the most of Schoemaker’s powerful drumming, smashing out heavy bass riffs and abrasive, scene-stealing sax blasts to beats not too far removed from the Melvins or Jesus Lizard. The Writhing Squares’ formula up to this point was some strange amalgamation of Stooges swagger and Hawkwind astronautics, with plenty of noise experimentalism dirtying the mix. These fundamentals are still in place throughout Mythology, but the songs rock harder, scream louder, and writhe in an agony more profound. Uptempo “LEM” is filthy, chaotic punk that ends with dual sax soloing, while the fuzz- and phaser-bathed “Eternity” is on par with Chrome in terms of apocalyptic urgency. Even with a more rock-geared approach, the band still gets into the same kind of outer reaches experimentation that they have on previous releases. Free-form sax instrumental “Ferrell” (a tribute to free jazz legend Pharoah Sanders) is a dance between horn and delay effects, and “Chromatophage” is an amusical bombardment of squishy synthesizers, computer drum patterns, and acidic noise. Mythology is as ungrounded and intense as the Writhing Squares have ever sounded, which is saying something for a band so prone to dissonance. It’s a new chapter in their sound, one that’s more grimier and more dangerous without completely losing the deep space mysticism of what came before it. — by Fred Thomas on allmusic


             


Track List:
01. Barbarians
02. Eternity
03. Ferrell
04. Acid Rain
05. LEM
06. Chromatophage
07. Cerberus
08. The Damned Thing


Media Report:
Genre: alternative rock, psychedelic rock
Origin: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA  
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
Compression mode: Lossless
Writing library: libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)


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