I first became aware of the post hardcore noise stooges, Mclusky, back when I was a teen in a pop punk band. Our lead singer wanted to do a cover and played us all a song called “Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues,” off the album, Mclusky Do Dallas. We wanted people to mosh, and this song by Bristol’s Mclusky fit the bill. It was aggressive, vulgar, surreal—just completely batshit and to the point.
I’m happy to report that 20-something years since the debut of that song, mclusky has not lost its disarrayed punk edge with this new album, the world is still here and so are we. Songs like “unpopular parts of the pig,” “people person” and “way of the exploding dickhead,” are just as maniacal as the band’s previous work. We have these dirty and heavy punk rock chords, twisting bass riffs, cries for confusion, stories of being a social outcast, screwball wordplay lyrics like “exploding kids, exploding kids, exploding kids can kill the mood” or “I’m just a competent horse thief / Without the benefit of teeth.”
Honestly, it’s this strange, unhinged energy that sometimes feels a bit lost with modern punk music, left by older bands like Dead Kennedys and sometimes brought back from groups like Squid, Viagra Boys, or Amyl and the Sniffers. But usually, that new energy comes from self-deprecation or depression, rather than true societal or political hate. Mclusky is still just as mad and pissed of by modern politics and people than they were in the early 2000s. Just listen to a banger like “autofocus on the prime directive,” with its mutating guitar work and lead vocalist, Andrew Falkous, spitting, venomous vocal style. It sounds like he’s being slowly drowned or choked as he lets out each guttural growl.
There’s not really one bad song on this thing. The instrumentation is usually very straightforward; a fuzzy grooving bassline, buzzing guitar line, until it’s not and dives into a confusing cascade of distortion and Falkous’ ramblings on the depravity of modern society, sometimes in a satirical talk-sing or vicious scream. “hate the polis,” also has some gorgeous vocal harmonies that took me completely off guard.
In an age when many bands are doing the comeback album thing for a quick buck—hoping the nostalgia of their previous work will be enough—Mclusky is still evolving.
