Skewed noise
Blacklisters are superbly nasty; jagged riffs and intense untameable vocals, all underlined by the most compulsively danceable, distorted and rumbling bass lines and heavy hitting drums, OK perhaps not danceable but twitchable at the very least, this is a record that commands your attention from the opening bars and relentlessly batters you but it's never just a wall of noise there is such a lot more going on underneath that scuzzy, hard exterior.
Comparisons to The Jesus Lizard and Shellac ring true, in that this is a pretty crushing record, punctuated by squeals of feedback and screams. Listen for example to the super chunky and low riffage of closer Shush with its moody, sludgy pace broken by piercing feedback. Actually, as far as comparing Blacklisters goes, it's tempting at times to take the likeness back to an earlier Albini band, Big Black - moments of distorted minimalism, flanked by squealing angst ridden noise and real darkness on tracks like Nice Garden, the brilliantly grooveable Trickfuck remind one of Songs About Fucking, although the Blacklisters sound often employs more complex guitars and structures resulting in a more varied album than the aforementioned Big Black classic.
BLKLSTRS is everything we hoped it would be, it probably goes without saying that this is for fans of nasty, skewed intensity, although it would be a joy to turn more of you on to the bliss of submerging yourself in the noise and coming out pumped and glad to be alive, although one admission here - this reviewer will admit to a slight ringing in the ears after three straight listens at top volume, but it's so bloody addictive it was hard not to.