What if you took all the best opening tracks/instrumental intros from all the greatest Rawk albums ever, huddled them together under one roof, then unleashed it into the world? That’s kind of the vibe we’re getting from Hunting Accidents and their epic new opus Gifts|Choices|Poisons.
“Fear & Trembling” is all of that and more with stirring guitar lines out of Mark Arbonies and Matthew West with Jeff Liddle’s drumming arriving as both the thunder in the distance and the chaotic hurricane touching down on land while Peter Thompson’s bass here is subtle but also sanguine despite the bombastic accompaniment. “The Weight of Joy” is where things really get started, though, with lush vocal melodies from West and Thompson added to accent the aural awesomesauce that nicely lead into “Crisis Disciplines” which delves into Desert Rawk and Sludge when it gets down to brass tacks.
“Red Sky At Dawn” crawls out of that hole transformed, merging all that’s come so far into a glistening muddled mixture of Sunny Day Real Estate’s broader moments (“Pillars” in particular… which is also an opening track!) and the more refined/mature music hailing out of the Queens Of The Stone Age camp as of late while “I Dragged Myself To Shore” is a massive-sounding instrumental track that shimmers and shines with big grooves making for an all around bigger bravado.
“Roman Candle Birthday Party” rips in a slowburn kind of way with a Flickerstick meets Failure coalescence of modern Space Rawk and Psychedelia and then “A Poison Is Not A Gift; A Waltz Is Not A Choice” brings to mind Jimmy Eat World (In this case, Clarity‘s gargantuan “Goodbye Sky Harbor”) with how it gradually builds and builds into a propulsive peak. Closing with “Celestial”, Hunting Accidents deliver one final blow driven by a spoken word vocal delivery surrounded by a Post-Rawk instrumental onslaught that’s turned up to 11.
Gifts|Choices|Poisons is out now and can be yours to honor and cherish for all time by heading here or to the stream below. For more from Hunting Accidents, including where to catch them live next, hit the information superhighway and stop off here and here.