Young Widows' 2006 debut, Settle Down City, drew on a strand of early 1990s indie embodied by the Jesus Lizard and Melvins; sometimes they dragged out the payoff with their ominous grooves, and sometimes they milked the quiet-to-loud dynamic for all it was worth. It worked, and the follow-up Old Wounds doesn't fix what isn't broken. Ringing, distorted bass and some marble-mouthed threats from singer/guitarist Evan Patterson open the record, taking just a few bars too many without accompaniment to draw out the tension on the first track, "Took a Turn". When the guitar finally hits, it sounds miles away, like a powerless witness to a natural disaster. All of the elements contribute to one relentless, bludgeoning rhythm.
"Took a Turn" segues artfully into the syncopated crunch and wild hammer-on riff of "Old Skin", fitting the album's most evocatively self-destructive lyrics ("She healed you with her fingernails, she healed you with her teeth") into a track that is, again, single-minded and unwavering in rhythm and tone. Same goes for "Mr. No Harm", but Patterson's voice is more unhinged here, and the guitar manages a few textural stabs underneath the thundering din. The band's oppressive repetition is often hypnotic, and it must have sounded great in person, as the crowds on some of these tracks can attest-- four cuts were wholly recorded live, and much of the album was spliced together from various performances with the help of producer (and Converge guitarist) Kurt Ballou. The band continues to find its own voice, and Patterson finds a lower, more confident, and distinct vocal affectation than the wail that marked Settle Down City. But even if that record was more indebted to the band's forebears, Young Widows' first album was more dynamic, had more memorable riffs and hooks, and contained generally more surprises.
Not that there isn't anything that sticks out here. There's more of the band's favored queasy guitar echo on the soft-yet-heavy thump of "The Heat Is Here", but the groove saunters, and its muffled, humid atmosphere and descending melody are almost sexy. The lyrics don't add much ("ride rollercoaster, rise"), but damned if the chorus isn't the catchiest moment of the disc; the crowd's clapping, lonely as it sounds here, is well-earned. The rhythm section works up a whirlwind on "21st Century Invention", the guitar follows in lockstep, shouted vocals punctuate the beat, and there's a muted skronk to diffuse tension and keep the listener on his toes. "Delay Your Pressure" is a perfunctory late-record uptempo track, though it does have a little cowbell and a stunning half-step finale. Final track "Swamped and Agitated" ends on some long-awaited fury, and while Old Wounds isn't much of a riff record, this track has a righteous one.
Though it's been two years since Settle Down City, the methods on Old Wounds are commendable even if the results are mixed; more artists would do well to work fast and in front of crowd as often as possible. Better to lighten the weight of expectation than take so much time crafting "statements" and lose sight of what compels you as a band. Should Young Widows continue to record this way, the band still fills its niche as cannily as any of their nu-pigfuck peers, while clearly making an effort to push those sounds and ideas someplace more distinctive.
