Medicinal, one of New York’s noisiest hardcore bands, is back with a new LP on Council Records to kick off their new year.
The record is titled Buildings Abandoned, and keeps true to Medicinal’s brevity and angst, but with a wider focus on music’s capacity to bring us together.
Much of the record is a collaboration with close friend Sean McCann. Sean has played in Most Precious Blood, Cattlepress, Omega Glory, and Herjaza, and has known everyone in Medicinal for a long time. Sean has been battling ALS for a few years, yet he and Medicinal collaborated to write multiple songs that are now part of Buildings Abandoned.
“Fishing With Dynamite,” the record’s third track and one that McCann collaborated on, is a powerful, thumping song that opens with a brooding bass line and segues into a speedy verse paced by rapid drumming. The high-pitched vocals charge in, only to be paused just as the song’s final breakdown gives the track a thrashy dimension.
Closing with guest vocals from Murdock’s Frank Stapelfeldt, “Fishing With Dynamite” is an exemplary song on the record and showcases the power of musical collaboration as well as Medicinal’s fast-paced sonic assault.
Another standout song on Buildings Abandoned is “Apes Together Strong.” The title is an allusion to the Planet of the Apes movies, and the band’s familial calling card. This is about the relationship these musicians have cultivated over decades in the punk underground. True to form, it’s not just Matt and company bringing this song to life here. Kirkby Kiss frontman Natale Amato features throughout, and his delivery is a great complement to Matt’s more high-pitched screaming. The song closes with tightly woven chunky riffage anchored by strong drumming.
Clocking in at just about two minutes, “Apes Together Strong” is also one of the LP’s longest tracks and gives the listener a full-on understanding of Medicinal’s antagonistic and frenzied sound. “Buildings Abandoned” is a frenetic and fast-paced hardcore punk album that certainly sets itself apart from much of what is going on in the hardcore punk underground at the moment. The sound is at once an homage to the likes of CR and Rorschach and simply an ingenuitive way to play heavy music.
This record is also a testament to the cathartic and communal power of music. Medicinal decidedly including so many of their peers in the process of creating “Buildings Abandoned,” and that’s really what all of this is about anyway. Creating and fostering a community. Apes together strong indeed.
http://councilrecords.com/
Get It
- Council Records (vinyl, digital)
Tagged: medicinal
