‘Been trying to carve my way out, For far too long, Don’t want to say this is me, I’m trying to run away’ (Escapist)

San Francisco’s Fentanyl, who share members with Spy, return with their second self-titled full-length.  The defining feature of their sound remains the guitar tone – bright and free from distortion, yet still stark and frantically fizzing.  This raw-boned vigour – all sharp angles and unexpected, stabbing twists – is matched by the spry limber of the rhythm section as the band unleash a series of sub-two-minute eruptions that revel in a sense of off-the-cuff vitality.

The ferally snarled vocals seethe with a desperate urgency as they grapple with the modern-day malaise of isolation and anxiety.  From the whiplash opening of Layers Of Shame and the writhing stomp of Insubordinate to the forlorn fury of Escapist, the bristling onslaught is breathlessly unrelenting.