‘Let’s kill the mundane, Let’s stop the wasting, Let’s go to war against the bankruptcy of beauty’ (Let’s Go To War)

Consensus Madness derive their name from an interview with essayist John Dolan, where he described the collective delusion that fed the narrative around weapons of mass destruction in the run up to the invasion of Iraq.  How hegemonic ideas continue to grip our lives is at the heart of Endeavors.  How the market knows best.  Health, housing, the environment reduced to mere units of profit.  All of which breeds an insecurity and a listlessness that inhibits our ability to meaningfully resist.

This is the band’s debut album and follow-up to their self-titled debut 7-inch.  They first came together through a shared yearning for a project that took things back to basics.  And their rich pedigree playing across Chicago’s hardcore punk community – with everyone from Canal Irreal to Earth Girls – ensures that their aim is not only fulfilled but is executed with a notably assured verve.

First wave punk hooks and early 1980s’ USHC bristle form the base.  This is then injected with a more contemporary garage punk fizz that sees the sharply clean guitar lock in tight with the deeply resonant bass lines and fiercely propulsive drums.  Meanwhile, the nasal, playfully acidic vocals unpick our malaise with a wryly unforgiving eye and an intriguing call back to the lyrical stylings of 1980s’ UK anarcho-punk.  The sardonic snap of Superfund and the taut agitation of Living & Dying capture the spirit perfectly, before the more languidly melancholic close of Everyday.