This second album from Rev Billy Simmons in his guise of Evidence of a Struggle is a dense, tightly woven, sonically ornate, and musically complex affair. But considering the album takes as its themes how humanity is so readily able to “ harm, destroy, thoughtlessly marginalize, and discard with reckless disregard for anyone or anything outside of our immediate orbit”, how could it be otherwise?
The Chicago multi-instrumentalist is joined by Matt Walker (Smashing Pumpkins, Morrissey, of1000faces, Garbage, Filter) on drums and synths, with bass contributions by Alan Berliant (Chris Connelly, Mavis Staples, Saint Asonia) and Solomon Walker (Liz Phair, Bryan Adams, Morrissey) and the results push alternative rock to even its already expansive limits.
Sanford Parker (Voivod, Russian Circles, Yob, Eyehategod, Wovenhand, Darkthrone), was brought in to handle recording, mixing and production, with Grammy-nominated sound engineer Chris Gelin (Smashing Pumpkins, Trent Reznor, RZA, Tom Morello, Korn) taking over on post-production and mastering duties. All in all, that is quite a team.
The title track provides the album’s opening salvo: a gnarly, snarling onslaught of clashing guitars, discordant sonics, pounding drums, and abrasive tones—a blend of chaos and creativity that neatly encapsulates the modern world – politically, socially, ideologically, environmentally, any way you care to look at ir.
It’s a dynamic album full of highs and lows, but even when at its most minimal, such as on songs such as “Bastion,” the vibe is subdued (relative to the album as a whole) there is still a lot going on musically speaking; it’s just less punchy and obvious and more sonically poignantly woven
“Alma” is crushingly and claustrophobically groovy, the bassline falling vice-like on the listener, the staccato delivery brutal yet appealing, “Give Us A Kiss” is more conventional, (again, relatively speaking) anthemic and fist-in-the-air epic, and “We Want War” surfs along on waves of pounding beat and chugging guitar.
It’s a challenging album for challenging times, and if its messages and themes, creativity and contradictions, merging sounds and styles, and intense narratives might sometimes seem difficult to make sense of, perhaps for those unprepared to meet the music halfway, well, just look around you.
Eddy Derecho album order
Bandcamp
Le Caution single
Bandcamp
Give Us A Kiss single
Spotify
