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Poison Idea - Confuse And Conquer

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    Ian Jane
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  • Poison Idea - Confuse And Conquer



    Poison Idea - Confuse And Conquer
    Released by: Southern Lord
    Released on: April 7th, 2015.
    Purchase From Amazon

    Poison Idea's last album, Latest Will And Testament, came out in 2006. That's almost a decade ago and shortly before that album came out founding guitarist Pig Champion passed away. Things didn't look good for Portland, Oregon's Kings Of Punk but after a lengthy hiatus and what we can only assume was some serious introspection, frontman Jerry A. got things moving again. Some singles came out, there was a bit of touring and now the long awaited new album has finally been released. Accompanying Mr. A on this album (at least according to their facebook page, there are no band credits in the album liners) are Brandon Bentley on guitar, Chris Carey on bass and Nathan Richardson on drums. Interesting enough, Eric "the Vegetable" Olson has returned to the fold as well, playing guitar after more than two decades away from it all.

    Produced by Joel Grind of Toxic Holocaust and mastered by Brad Boatright of From Ashes Rise, Confuse And Conquer offers up eleven brand new tracks that completely inhabit what most fans would probably consider to be the 'classic' Poison Idea sound, but that occasionally see them experimenting a bit here and there. Bog opens the album with a killer guitar riff that opens the door for Jerry's perpetually pissed off vocals to barge in. It works and it works well, precisely 2:33 worth of unadulterated sonic nihilism. It's got the same sort of nasty, dark tone to it that the best tracks off of Feel The Darkness had, and that's a good thing for sure.

    Me & J.D. is up next, taking the same 'riffs up front' intro over which Jerry sounds like he's barely able to control himself. The vocals here are unhinged to say the least and there's a genuine ferocity to the delivery that is as impressive as it is scary. But then around the middle of the song it changes tempo a bit in an interesting way, only to return to that super aggressive sound that it started with. Psychic Wedlock starts off with a piano solo that creates an interesting, somber atmosphere. A minute later, we're in more familiar PI territory with Jerry crawling his way up from the depths and the twin guitar attack going in multiple directions at once but never feeling sloppy or wrong for the band. There's a heavier, more solidified groove here and an ever so slightly psychedelic feel to parts of the song. This launches until longest track on the album, Hypnotic, which clocks in at just under five minutes in length (epic by traditional hardcore standards). It's a definite diversion from the sound most will associate with the band. This is a swaggering sort of garage rock track with a singalong style chorus complete with some gang vocals, honkytonk style pianos and all that fun stuff.



    Trip Wire gets the album back to the darker side of things, putting some completely wicked guitar playing front and center and the energetic anger that propels the band in its proper place. There's some slick six-string work at play here though, it's more than just 'pissed off and fast' but technically proficient as well. I Never Heard Of You is a solid 3:46 of 'FUCK YOU' in the way that Poison Idea does better than pretty much every other band out there, while Cold Black Afternoon breaks every speed limit out there and stands out as the fastest track on the record. Which is saying something, because there are a lot of fast tracks on this record. If earlier tracks harkened back to Feel The Darkness this harkens back to Pick Your King. The Rhythms Of Insanity continues what at this point is very much a sonic pummeling, just more raw, pissed off hardcore done right.

    And then we switch gears again. Dead Cowboy is a slow track, one that mixes weird elements of Ennio Morricone style spaghetti western soundtracks with Lee Hazlewood style crooning. This would fit in nicely on a Tom Waits album or maybe a later era Nick Cave album and it's odd. It's done well but to a certain extent it feels out of place here, but then, you've got to admire the band coming out of left field the way they do with this song.

    The penultimate song on the album is the aptly titled Beautiful Disaster is one of the best tracks on the record, just straight ahead sonic fury with lyrics that have some serious punch behind them. The album closes with Reprise, the shortest (at 1:49) and noisiest track on the album, it's more of a descent into Hell than a traditional song - lots of wailing and screaming and crazy playing all sort of coming at you like a wall of noise that calms down and exists to some more somber piano playing.

    This is not a good record, this is a genuinely great record. Three of the eleven tracks are odd and quirky and may take some getting used to but the other eight are just killer. The production is good enough, and by that I mean it suits the band's sound - never sounding too polished but never sounding like it was poorly recorded - while the playing here is top notch. Jerry's vocals sound great and this would appear to be a band that has reignited after an absence that most fans will agree was far too long. But evidently, good things come to those who wait. Here's hoping we don't have to wait a decade for the next record.


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