BLACKLEVEL EMBASSY – NEW VETERAN

Guitar, bass and drums are all Melbourne’s Blacklevel Embassy need to create a third album that’s part commanding, part vulnerable and all-out angular power. Tense and exhilarating, New Veteran reeks of 90s rock (having been produced by Shellac’s Bob Weston) and the three-piece have clearly been saving up their angst reserves whilst on hiatus. From the opener, the riffs are huge and the vocals are primal, deep and cutting (if bizarre, lyrically.) If the discordant wails of Tony and the unstructured intricacies of You Should Build Yourself a Deck don’t win you over with their defiant fury, nothing will. Either way, these guys won’t be losing sleep over it. (JM)

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