I guess I should preempt this by saying that I’ve been listening to Old Wounds, the second full-length album from Young Widows for a few months now. I should also say that I was a bit stumped about how to approach writing about Old Wounds. The album absolutely destroyed me upon first listen, but I couldn’t figure out exactly why.
Then, about three weeks ago, I came across the final EP from Louisville, Kentucky’s Breather Resist, the band that eventually became Young Widows. The short of the story is that Breather Resist split with their lead vocalist, continuing to write material that would grow to become darker and more dissonant, with Young Widows being the end result. No longer being lumped in with the metal hardcore scene, Young Widows brand of noise-inspired clamor threw a few influential nods to the noise-inspired histories of the Touch and Go, Am Rep and Slowdime Records families.
Upon hearing this one final EP from Breather Resist (which would become the bridge in the gap between the former and the latter bands), I realized something pretty important. Their music was evolving. Even if the band was fighting against it, Breather Resist was going to become Young Widows. Some things are just inevitable. And that’s when it hit me. Old Wounds, the latest release from Young Widows, signified the death of the “ex-members of” tag. The transition was now completed; pre-conceived notions now erased. Young Widows was now simply Young Widows. And the territory was darker than ever.
Old Wounds was recorded experimentally by producer Kurt Ballou (Converge). In between eight days of recording in Ballou’s Godcity Studios, the band (Jeremy McMonigle- drums, Evan Patterson- guitar, Nick Thienemen- bass) took him on tour to record their sets. During mixing, the band spliced bits from both the studio and the live sessions into what would become the album. Crowd noise included, the production shifts effortlessly and cohesively between live and studio takes from song to song, offering the listener a brief glimpse into the Young Widows live performance. But onto the music. Combining the darkest moments of Nirvana’s In Utero, PJ Harvey’s Rid of Me, Fugazi’s Red Medicine and The Jesus Lizard’s Goat, Young Widows has created a menacing blend of hypnotic, pummeling rock. Now I know that combination sounds as unlikely as one could imagine, but Young Widows makes it work while also laying claim to loudest release of 2008. Actually, loud would be an understatement; Young Widows instead destroys. With rhythms that could wake the dead, the Albini-esque brand of sludge created within might just be the chaotic stepchild of Big Black’s Atomizer.
But I don’t mean to speak about Young Widows simply in terms of older records. There are greater forces at work here; a darkness that surrounds the music of Young Widows, as evidenced by the opening lyrics of ‘Lucky and Hardheaded.’ ("I fell into a hole/a deep, deep hole,” grumbles Patterson.) That Young Widows can navigate through this brand of created darkness, climb back out of said hole and get on with the day is what truly amazes me about Old Wounds as a whole. That it was an inevitable step for a band that continues to evolve, well that’s just terrifying. And if this band’s evolution is telling me anything, I think it’s that the dark times have only just begun for the music of Young Widows…
To stream selections from Young Widows, check the Young Widows on MySpace.
