Matt Schild // The Onion
Clumsy, conventional wisdom dictates that bad times breed great music, but it’d be a stretch to say Lion Sized wouldn’t be as pissed off—or as musically defiant—if everything in the world was fine and dandy. Mired in the middle of the worst economic climate since the Great Depression, its latest EP, Cough Up Your Teeth, enjoys an unfortunate affinity for its day and age.
With an emphasis on macroeconomic forces, singer-guitarist Josh Bergstrand leads the Denver punk trio through a five-song set that recalls the desperate alienation of early-’80s West Coast punk. Making not-so-veiled allusions to the theories of Adam Smith and Karl Marx, the album reminds listeners that the genre is at its best when it serves as the nagging conscience that so easily gets ignored.
Although Lion Sized’s lyrical foundation is based on economic theories, the band’s focus is on the harsh realities of them on a human level. “Not War Baby” tackles the link between poverty and enlistment in a way that’d make Gang Of Four proud; bassist Shane Trost and drummer Rob Burleson alternately churn and bludgeon listeners, freeing Bergstrand’s treble-laden guitar to mercilessly flay eardrums. In “Carmel,” a sing-along vocal melody is poised above a grinding guitar arrangement that’s equal parts Agent Orange and Government Issue—all nasty, brutish, and short. “Shadows Of Buildings” and “Hey Proletariat!” tell tales of the debt-ridden and downtrodden with a sympathy that’s less bleeding heart and more hurl-a-brick, as the group is both ideology and humanism in action.
Cough Up Your Teeth cements Lion Sized not only as a serious local contender, but also as a band that has the brains, heart, and chops to endure nearly any climate.
- Tuesday, May 18, 2010
