A lot of bands sound like they are writing their albums with a view to the live setting these days, with business perhaps more focused on big riffs or breakdowns and how they’ll go over in a club than fitting in to the overall theme of an album, or a band’s catalog. Washington’s current finest punk band Filth Is Eternal sound like a killer live band who also took the extra time at every element of their craft. From message to delivery, this is the full package.
Second album Find Out (MNRK Heavy) is not just a trendy second half of a phrase about fucking around and consequences. In this case, it is also a reminder that punk used to be a nexus for education about counter-culture, personal revolution, and re-invention. If you got into Fugazi or Nirvana, you might before long understand the web of inter-connectivity in regional scenes, or tape trade Spider Cunts, or Dag Nasty with your pals.
Filth Is Eternal feel like both intimidatingly talented ambassadors of this concept, yet also embody a working class and approachable vibe where they feel like feral besties you love.
Opener “Half Wrong” is perhaps the most extreme metal adjacent song the band has written, just explosive punk (Emily Salisbury is a fucking drum beast) with metallic hardcore paint slapped on top that could hang with Seizures In Barren Praise-era Trap Them just fine. The shouted vocal,“My longest nights come in waves” is one of the most evocative and compellingly bleak lyrics to open a record I can recall in years. It reminds me of an old creative writing teacher who would cite the famous opening lines of Neuromancer by William Gibson as an example of how you need to grab the reader by the throat from the jump (“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel”).
Lis Di Angelo is a narrator and a vessel for these songs, and you never are sure how much is their diary and how much is a lens on the world. Either way, it is frightening depths, jagged poetry, soulful throw-yourself-into-the-brink honesty, and whip smart observations that include queer resistance and personal liberation. There is enough grit here and heart to allow them to share stages with everyone from King Parrot to Finch this year, baby.
Mid-tempo “Body Void” pushes and shoves, demanding an audience with jaded judges. “Cherish” urges you not to surrender to cynical forces and lose sight of your gifts, and is paired with a killer David Lynch-esque and confrontational video. “Signal Decay” has some of the best dark melodies from the band yet and Lis sounding more confident melodically to wonderful results. The dissonance of Brian McClelland’s guitar on this song also reflects a post-punk respect that is another powerful piece.
“Crawl Space” is maybe the perfect punk song for 2023, giving the visceral sense of feeling trapped and also untamable at the same time. FiE further explores the speed punk, hardcore and grunge barrage paired with disjointed guitar solos that has made this band so interesting – McClelland continuing to prove one of the most ingenious players in the scene, no cap. Closer “Loveless” could even hang in the ring with You Fail Me (aka the actual best-era) Converge.
Hails af. Find Out is not just fourteen blistering tracks, but also my favorite rock album of the year.
Buy the album here:
https://filthiseternal.bandcamp.com/album/find-out
9 / 10
MORGAN Y. EVANS