Montreal locals Truck Violence are a band with a sound that can hit you like, well, a truck. They have garnered a reputation in the city’s punk scene for a unique sound that brings together elements of grunge, hardcore, and a healthy dose of Appalachian folk music, topped off with poetic lyrics filled with grotesque imagery. Their 2024 debut album, Violence, showcased the band’s impressive dynamic range, balancing heavy climaxes with mellow acoustic sections, at times within the same song. Their latest output, The weathervane is my body, pushes the envelope another notch further as the band continue to come into their own.
The start of the album pulls very few punches, kicking things off with two hard-hitters in « My dog would fuck the air » and « Jaundiced and reaching for a mother. » The former offers the listener a few brief moments of reprieve from its harrowing wall of guitars that make it all the more intense during the return. « Jaundiced… » keeps the energy up as well, finishing with a ripping breakdown, a strong contender for the heaviest moment in the band’s catalogue to date.
The following two tracks give the listener a chance to breathe – « Compelled by Christy » has a gradual build and decay to it and leads into the album’s first acoustic cut, « House caught fire. » We truly do hear the band’s full dynamic range in these first few tracks.
Sonically, Truck Violence operate in controlled chaos that finds its ground through contrast. Even in their heaviest moments, there is a stark difference between the loose walls of sound they create, full of dissonant chords and amp noise, and their tighter, more focused riffs. There are also surprises in the album’s softer moments – it’s never obvious whether you’re about to hear a banjo or a clean guitar, or whether vocalist Karsyn Henderson is about to come in with an unsettling spoken word passage or a yearning melody. The difference between the verses of « My dog would fuck the air » and « Kindly, wash yourself » illustrates this clearly. Because of the control this band has over the energy and mood of their music, every moment, whether they’re hitting you like a truck or drawing you in, feels deliberate and well earned.
