Aneurysm - Awareness LP (crown yellow)

After three seven-inches and roughly 200 shows, the Boston 5-piece has finally immortalized its sound and spirit in full-length fashion. Recorded at GodCity Studio in Salem, MA, by Chris Johnson (bassist of Deafheaven and Doomriders), Awareness is ten tracks' worth of swaggering, melodic, noise-rock that charges forward through the same sewers as Nirvana, Unsane, and Turbonegro.


Burly drums and distorted bass pound out frantic punk rock rhythms, as dual guitars weave ragged blankets of noisy melody. Vocalist Michael McGee (who spent much of the '00s fronting noise-core blasters the_Network) snarls, screams and croons, with lyrics that are raw and poetic – world-weary reflections on sex, drugs, cops, death, and rock n' roll.


A 2015 review in SPIN accurately declared Aneurysm's sound to be "a solid approximation of the Jesus Lizard’s seediness, but with a muscular locomotion that’d make the Toronto scuzz-punks in Metz proud... But what separates them from their heavy forebears and cleaned-up contemporaries is the delicate balance they strike between melody and chaos." Aneurysm have perfected that balance on Awareness, an album that rages wildly with a sneer on its face, yet also melts the heart.


Awareness was mastered by Will Killingsworth (The Body, Magrudergrind). The artwork and layout were created by Mark McCoy, whose work has graced the covers of albums by Pig Destroyer and Full of Hell.