We may have already declared this when covering the lead single off Scorpion Milk’s upcoming full-length debut but we’re at a point where if you attach Mat McNerney’s name to it, chances are we’ll devour it up without a second glance. And the icing on the cake that is Scorpion Milk? We also get the bass boom from MA’s own Nate Newton (Converge, Old Man Gloom, Cave In) to jam out to as well!
While McNerney’s Grave Pleasures dabbles in modern Post-Punk, Scorpion Milk goes full ahead flank into the Old School with a feel akin to early Killing Joke (S/T or Night Time and also of note: KJ’s Paul Ferguson appears on Slime…) and even Joy Division or Siouxsie and the Banshees at times for an overall sound that is decidedly less an homage and more the next logical step for a band of that era making their next instant classic today.
Opener “All The Fear” transports listeners to those opening pangs of early Killing Joke previously delivered with a masterful menace by the late, great Geordie Walker with McNerney passionately creating a new legacy. “The Will to Live” is harrowing and hypnotic with a rumbling low end from Newton and drummer Tor Sjödén (Viagra Boys) while “She Wolf of London” is a shrieker, featuring Creeper’s Will Gould.
Lead single “Another Day Another Abyss” is peak Post-Punk for a modern era with Newton’s bass humming like the best of Joy Division as McNerney’s croon glowers and glows, lamenting becoming the abyss to get through it followed by “Wall To Wall” which is made up of a discordant buzz that resonates from Sjödén and Newton straight through McNerney’s voice before upending itself for a vibrant infectious chorus.
The title track is pure, Old School Post-Punk building those gnarly soundscapes that Jaz Coleman still navigates so well surrounded by a beastly backbeat, “Silver Pigs” is a faster paced crusher with these gnarly call and response passages, “All Snakes No Ladders” fits nicely in with today’s best Post-Punk efforts but also inhabits an all around timeless feel, and “Children are Dust” is a chilling conclusion to Scorpion Milk’s charismatic debut.
Slime of the Times is out on September 19th through Peaceville Records and you can secure your copy via pre-orders and pre-saves when you head here or to the stream below. For more from Scorpion Milk, be sure to check out their socials located here or here.