THE CATALYST – Swallow Your Teeth

Get ready to defend yourself in a court of law against noise violations. The Catalyst forgot where the volume knob was and decided that destroying sound systems was fun. Swallow Your Teeth is one the loudest albums you’ll ever want to hear. Everything is delivered at ear-splitting levels. The vocals are screamed. The guitars shred through chords and riffs with distorted brilliance. Everything goes right here. The first half of the album is inspired Melvins meets Born Against hardcore. “Lars Ulrich’s 186 Funeral” is one of the best hardcore tracks of the past few years, while “Small Town Big Mouth” channels the energy of late ’80s New York City punk and puts it into the single best track on the album.

However, the second half of the album is not nearly as consistent or even nearly as fun as the first. The seven-minute-long “Werewolves of Washington” saps the album of any sort of flow and, frankly, the listener’s interest; the droning nature of the track sucks the fun right out of what could have the best piece of hardcore released this year. The back of the album lists and lilts along until the noise mercifully stops. This isn’t a bad listen. It just isn’t likely to make people wax poetic about a new favorite band.

(The Perpetual Motion Machine, PO Box 7401, Richmond, VA 23221)