Glasgow, you may know has a wee thing about religion, some pubs up here can be either Celtic or Rangers pubs and I have stood in many grinning to myself when a goal goes in and watching the pub erupt. I don’t support Rangers or Celtic and have never believed in any religion so on researching mewithoutYou I read they were a Christian band, which lead singer Aaron Weiss has disputed, with lyrics that would reference spirituality, apologies I won’t pick up any of that. I have no problem with people being into whatever religion they want, it’s just not for me.
This is a new band on me and to be fair why should I know them they were only around for twenty-one years releasing seven studio albums.
Opener Messes Of Men rain falls with minimal music as Weiss talks us through the first minute before the song explodes into life the words tumbling from his mouth, good start.
The Dryness And The Rain is equally as frantic with part of the song sang in Arabic, almost chant like from the band.
Wolf Am I is all thrashing drums and the momentum has not let up, but we then have Yellow Spider a simple one-minute interlude of acoustic guitar. They also produce Orange Spider and Brownish Spider to allow us time to breathe, all perfectly pleasant.
A Glass Can Only Spill What It Contains we are back to a punishing beat with the vocals distorted at various points throughout the song and a blistering guitar solo takes us out and The Sun and the Moon has a nagging riff throughout and the bands harmonies work effectively (as they do on the addictive C-Minor) and enhance but the song could do with being cut by a minute.
O, Porcupine is all shouty, mini riffs, stop starts, and distorted vocals, there’s a lot going on but its bloody good.
In a Sweater Poorly Knit ends on a high full of various instruments in a swirling mix and the band back Weiss to the hilt, they have throughout the whole album.
Would I have listened to an album where the band were linked to the Christian scene, no to be honest, thank God I did.
8/10
GIVE IT A STREAM: O Porcupine