KEY POINTS:
Herald rating: * * * *
After nearly 10 years as a band, you'd think the Blood Brothers would by now have been arrested for assault. Their music is menacing and nasty. Their fifth album, Young Machetes, is just as ballistic, shrill and frantic as the Seattle band's previous releases. Of those, 2004's Crimes was the pick of the bunch and the most accessible, if you're into uninterrupted musical massacres.
Young Machetes is a mix of both intensity and accessibility. On the one hand the spasms are more controlled, vocalists Jordan Blilie and Johnny Whitney seem to sing more rather than squeal and squawk, and much of the time a solid groove replaces the explosions. However, they still maintain that temperamental fervour with maximum discord, pounding tempos, tense mantras like "Set fire to the face of fire", and lines about sidewalks shedding skin like snakes.
If you like the sound of Mars Volta but the songs are too long and they're too prog' rock, then the Blood Brothers are for you. And they have more than a strong resemblance to our own sound contortionists the Mint Chicks.
Songs like Spit Shine Your Black Clouds and Lift the Veil, Kiss the Tank make this a fine progression, albeit a demanding one.
Label: V2/Shock
Verdict: A bit of the old slice and dice on fifth album from Seattle noise punks
