Though they hit as hard as ever,
the Bouncing Souls
broaden their impact on
Anchors Aweigh
. Some of these tracks hide an almost reflective perspective behind
Michael McDermott
's vicious, in-the-pocket drumming and the rest of the band's searing riffs:
"Simple Man,"
a marathon at just over four minutes, yearns for a more orderly life,
"Night Train"
runs with that thought onto the endless highway of possibilities, complete with a
Steppenwolf
-like motorcycle sample, and
"Todd's Song"
even flashes a few strings while roaring into and exiting an ear-bleed rumination on suicide. Musically, the guys are tight;
McDermott
in particular earns his stripes as a
punk
virtuoso in the artful tempo manipulations of
"Apartment 5F"
and the rhythmically intricate
"Blind Date."
Note: The last track,
"I'm from There,"
actually clocks in at about four minutes and 46 seconds, after which there's maybe a minute and a half of crackling noise before an acoustic hidden track crawls out of the shadows, hangs around for a while, and then melts back into more crackling. Go figure. ~ Robert L. Doerschuk