Bent Blue So Much Seething

Released
25th October 2024
Label 
Indecision Records
Format

12 Inch

Purple or Green

£22.00

‘You wreak of bad faith, With the games that you play, Your actions betray, The outrage that you fake, You claim civility, Feign morality, Hate with impunity’ (The Pearls You Clutch)

San Diego’s Blue Bent return with their debut full-length, So Much Seething, following two earlier EPs, most recently 2022’s Where Do Ripples Go?.  The band’s sonic roots reach back to the melodic hardcore of the early 2000s.  But they continue to complement this with elements drawn from DC’s Revolution Summer to post-hardcore by way of dark punk, even dashes of mid-1990s’ alternative rock.  In this respect, they rather bring to mind Syracuse’s Another Breath. Not so much in the final musical execution, but rather the combination of their shared magpie instincts and their innate ability to hone disparate, unexpected influences into a compelling whole.

The opening three tracks perfectly capture these dynamics.  The supple bass lines of the swinging Born On Third feed into the contagiously layered chorus of The Other Half, before the bristling fury and gang vocals of The Pearls You Clutch erupt.  The production is bright and bold, ensuring a crisply punchy delivery, the sheen never threatening to overwhelm the grit.  The vocals match this virtuosity step for step, sweeping from rasping anger to more melodic expressions with impressive versatility.

Lyrically, the album explores the self-serving myths of meritocracy on Born On Third (‘You flex fake elbow grease, Yet others wear the stains’) and hypocritical morality on The Pearls You Clutch that in turn fuel the social conflict of Shatterbelt Blues (‘Worn necks the boots try repressing, Are attached to a name’).  Grappling with such a polarised environment shapes Home In My Head (‘The outlook’s bleak, I just can’t take it, No tried and true, only unknown’) while Rough Mason is a more introspective reflection on the value of craftmanship and collective endeavour (‘Brick by brick, foundations laid, For those obscured, no thought for gain’).

—Foundation Vinyl