music Home > Record Reviews

Lashing out in bluesy, no-frills noise rock backing a vocalist ably channeling David Yow's tumbling-off-the-rails caterwauling, the Pfisters strike a bruising balance between snarling barroom punk-rock, feverish anarchy, and a hyperkinetic rock 'n' roll. In other words, an ace please-all of heavy and kinda-sorta weird/anti-genre music. See also: Pissed Jeans, Drunkdriver, Sick Weapons, and various other whiskey-addled and sweat-soaked young bands in a bar or 100-degree basement near you.

Quick Pfisters' background: If you recognize that yowl from around town, it belongs to Jason Donnells, vocalist and bassist for the far more damaged, noise-pulverized punk band New Flesh. With Pfisters, Donnells provides the vocals, but trades in his bass for a guitar. And that guitar makes all the difference. It's a disgruntled tool, but it's honing in on something a bit more comfortable. (The New Flesh slays, but it's also not for everyone.) The rolling, roadhouse guitar lines in "She's Mine" mash nicely against a more out-there track like "Ships and Sharks" and its shifts between punk-rock shred and full-on, broke-down noise plasma. Meanwhile, "Red Pearl" is a grand mess of discordant squall and guitar lines that feel like they're going in 10 directions at once. The track, like much of Narcicity, plays around and between stylistic lines, but never does it in a way that feels like the band's effing with you.

E-mail Michael Byrne