Progressive grunge? Is that a thing? Well, if not, it is now! That is perhaps the best way to concisely frame the songs on Kill The Algorithm, and a great reminder that opposites have always attracted and that the modern world has moved far beyond ideas of genre labels and sonic tribal expectation.
Opener, ‘Saviour’ is powered as much by its spiraling and melodic basslines as its driving beats and raw, but precisely aligned guitars, which at times echo that classic twin guitar sound of yore. (…and indeed my record collection.) If grunge was part of the alternative rock tsunami designed to year zero the traditions of the earlier rock sound, here Shaven Primates instead perform a marriage ceremony for the two.
‘Pioneer Way’ is dense and delicious, shot through with incisor-like guitar motifs and carrying a snarling punk vocal onslaught; ‘Feed’ is a heavy, visceral, twisty, turny roller coaster ride through a nu-prog scape and the title track, which sees us out, turns out to be a beguiling blend of fluttering riffs and deft stick work, shuffling groove and shimmering grandure, mathy and marvelous, big and clever. Damned clever.
Genres are dead; we have all known that for a while, but in case you didn’t get the memo, Shaven Primates have just erected the gravestone to such outdated notions.
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