Dangers, Messy, Isn't It?

Pissed off, agitated and despondent — Dangers deliver their commentary on society with more aggression and vehemence than I’ve heard in quite some time. Messy, Isn’t It? is chock full of discordant guitars, barbaric drums and a vocal delivery that is raw, tortured and honest, even as the lyrics cut to the bone like a blunt edged ax.

The 19 tracks on the band’s sophomore effort take up just over 36 minutes in duration. That’s 19 songs, averaging under 2 minutes a piece, delivered with vehemence, rawness and a directness that should raise some eyebrows. While most of the songs reside in the hardcore realms, the band does a great job bringing in all sorts of influences into the mix to keep things fresh, on edge and ready to throw down at the drop of a hat.

Stay-At-Home Mom
The opening track starts off rather subdued, but eventually crests like a tsunami of discordant riffs and raw vocals. The pace is fairly slow which makes the harsh vocal delivery that much more in your face. The track swells at all the right points and really does a great job as a first introduction to the band.

I’ll Clap When I’m Impressed
This next one is decidedly more uptempo and unrelenting with animalistic drumming and driving guitars. The vocals are angst filled and raw, layering nicely to create a great juxtaposition. The overall tone of this one is much darker, tinged with a bit of bleakness. There are some nicely crafted and doomy riffs added into the mix. I love the feel of chaos that the multiple vocal deliveries give to the band’s sound.

Pyramid Of Empties
More uptempo goodness follows suit with this next song. After a bit of memorable guitar work, the guys settle into their multi-tiered vocals chaos as the drummer does his best to beat his way through the center of the Earth. Despite the raw and aggressive nature of the band’s delivery, there’s actually a pretty decent groove flowing through this one, well, that is until the massive riffs to end out the song.

Saved By The Buoyancy Of Citrus
“Saved By The Buoyancy Of Citrus” is a raucous song with plenty of manic drums, thick bass and reverb. This one will roll over you like an out-of-control semi in the middle of rush hour traffic. Hell yeah!

Check, Please
Man, this next one is all over the place initially — chaos everywhere. Once the guys settle into a “groove,” the track continues along it’s one way course with caustic, driving guitars, aggressively paced vocals and manic drums. There is a nice ebb and flow to the song as the band collapses in upon itself with less aggressive sequences before ramping up again to tear you a new one.

Opposable
At the request of the lead shouter, the bass thunders along with raw screams for the first 30 seconds or so while guitars pop up hear and there. The riff work that follows is catchy as hell and instantly memorable as the harsh vocals continue along with steady drum work. This may be one of the slower songs on the album, but it’s still quite powerful and well written.

Cure For Cancer
Classic punk guitar work and up tempo drumming gets this next one moving along nicely. The guys do a great job allowing the shorter songs to breathe and become an entity of their own without overwhelming the listener with more than they can handle — often resorting to minimal music behind the caustic vocals.

Cure For AIDS
This one is dark and disturbing as fuck with layered vocals and next to no music for the first 20 second or so. It’s a menacingly simple song. When the riffs finally do arrive around 1:15 they are massive and direct, joining the vocal patterns nicely.

Straight As She Wants To Be
Holy shit! There’s a great grind influence in the rhythms of this next track as the band jumps from manic blast to manic blast and back again, all in a short 26 seconds.

Under The Affluence
“Under The Affluence” builds up slowly to rapid, thunderous drumming and a thrash-like vibe as the guitars and vocals get down to business. This is a violent, blood pumping ride that ends with you neck-deep in a full body cast.

Teenage Porno Hunter
The thick tone that ends the previous song fades in smoothly to this next track with distant guitars that come to the forefront about 30 seconds into the song. The vocals follow shortly there after just before the one minute mark as the drums also announce their presence. The rest of the song is brief, yet powerful.

Goliath
“Goliath” picks the pace up once again with driving hardcore riffing and drum work. It’s a pretty straightforward track that only lets up once during a brief lull in the storm for some emphasis on the vocals. The song ends violently with layered vocals and driving guitars.

(Messy, Isn’t It?)
The title track has some bluesy horn elements, distant thunder sound effects and bluesy piano that fills up the full minute and a half.

Bottom Of The 9th Ward
“Bottom Of The 9th Ward” exits the chill blues bar vibe and enters with desolate and desperate tones that sort of remind of a slower Adamantium. There’s a good deal of soul and feeling thrown into the vocal delivery, as well as backing female vocals that completely change the overall feel of the band into something more than just your average hardcore act.

Tarantula Type
After that more melancholy song, the guys in Dangers get back down to business with this fairly straightforward, fist pumping hardcore track. “Tarantula Type” is another song that’s got a few touches of Adamantium in the mix, most notably along the thick bass lines. The explosion after the one minute mark with dual vocals and thrashing guitars is sweet as hell.

What Goes Up
“What Goes Up” is a violent burst of frenetic drumming and raw vocals. There are more tempo changes in this short song than found on most of the album as the band shifts from throttling powerviolence to more groove oriented rhythms and back again. The kids singing “America the Beautiful” is symbolic of something, I’m sure.

No Vonneguts, No Glory
The aggression levels are kept hight with this next song as thick riffs and manic drumming open up the song. The track as a stop/start sort of feel to it that’s a nice change up, as well.

(Love Poem)
This next track encompasses several nice folks reciting Richard Brautigan’s poem on top of one another. It’s an interesting concept.

The El Segundo Blue Butterfly Habitat Preserve
The final track leads off with some memorable guitar before settling into a harrowing blend of tortured melodies and caustic aggression. The song is a summation of the band’s efforts on Messy, Isn’t It? It’s raw, grating, emotional and honest.

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Additional Notes:
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