Coming out about a year after their “House With A Curse” full length, Parasites (also produced by J Robbins) picks up right where Coliseum left off. And that’s a good thing.
Before I even get into the music let me talk for a minute about how awesome this thing looks. Rick Froberg of Drive Like Jehu/Hot Snakes drew the cover art. The edition I got even came with a lithograph of it signed by Sir Froberg that some day when I’m not broke I might get framed. The vinyl itself (and there are a couple variants out there but the edition I got anyway) is half marble green half clear orange. It’s so fucking rad. And Temporary Residence as always put in a welcome download code so that I can take “Parasites” on my train into work like I’m doing right now. On to the tracks tho.
I was a little nervous that this EP was going be a bunch of throw-aways that didn’t make the cut for their last LP but not only are they absolutely not they also create a mini album of sorts with a life all its own. The tracks flow into one another like they were meant for this release and this release only which is not always an easy thing to do with a short player.
Lyrically and thematically “Parasites” is every bit as dense and dark as the bands other output. I mean before I even heard it I’m reading titles like The Ghost of God and knowing what I’m in for. The one song I wasn’t too into was Girl With The Fiery Eye. Musically it’s as good as anything else on here but something about that lyric seemed a tad corny to be. Fuck it though there’s well more than enough other killer songs on here to make up for the one mediocre one. I actually think I like track Big Baby the best which is an odd choice considering that as far as I can tell it’s just a angry tune directed at bassist Mike Pascal for being late to practice. It’s not exactly their most profound song lyrically but something about it just gets me going. Guess maybe I know a lot of big babies.
Christ. Not that this has anything to do with anything but I’m writing this review on my damn iPhone while taking the train into work and this app I’m using to type it out is pissing me off so hard that I have to cut this short. But yeah “Parasites”. Get it. Or get them I should say. Then get checked out at a clinic.
COLISEUM “Waiting (Too Late)” Music Video from Coliseum on Vimeo.
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