ALBUM REVIEW: Distractions – See You Next Tuesday
SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY are pretty much the embodiment of the MySpace era. They released a couple of really great albums back in the day – 2007’s Parasite and 2008’s Intervals, both on Ferret Music – only to pretty much disappear entirely from 2009 save for a few one-off reunion shows. No-one was really expecting a proper studio comeback, but much like their former peers DR. ACULA who surprised everyone with their excellent self-titled full-length in October last year, the Bay City grinders have returned with what is undoubtedly their best record yet in the form of Distractions.
On one level, Distractions picks up where the band left off nearly 15 years ago; it’s still bewilderingly extreme, a mix of mathcore, grindcore and deathcore that requires a good few listens before anything it throws at you really starts to stick. However it is also immediately apparent that this is SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY’s most focused record. Perhaps because they are no longer surrounded by bands constantly trying to outdo each other with the length of their track titles and the number of jokes and samples they can cram into their songs, this album feels more exclusively devoted to a bleak and devastating power that leaves a lasting impact even before one has got to grips with the finer points of the 13 tracks at hand.
Lyrically, a lot of the record focuses on mental health – lead single Hey Look, No Crying is about looking back on life and mourning the moments you’ll never get to experience again for example – and while vocalist Chris Fox isn’t always super intelligible, the anguish in his delivery is inescapable. One of the moments that does jump out with particular clarity comes towards the end of 11th track I Had The Craziest Dream, where Fox repeatedly insists “I know everything will be ok” atop a cacophony of noisy guitars and lumbering bass and drums. It’s a great sonic picture of someone trying to convince themselves that all will be well even as the chaos which surrounds them suggests otherwise, and it makes for one of the record’s most instantly impactful moments as a result.
Indeed, even without Fox’s lyrics in front of you there is a palpable tortured intensity to Distractions. Tracks like Glad To Be Unhappy and Call Me Irresponsible – both barely over 30 seconds in length – recall the demented, processed grind of a band like FULL OF HELL for example, while I’ll Never Smile Again’s bleak, sludgy trudge lands very close to something that CULT LEADER would do. This is not the work of a band out to coast on the easy win of a comeback record; SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY clearly have their eyes on the most cutting edge of the extreme, and whether the similarities to the groups mentioned are intentional or incidental the truth is that the band have re-entered the race right among the leaders of the pack.
It’s no great surprise then that they take what feels like no time at all to arrive at Distractions’ end. Most of the songs on the record land just a few seconds either side of the two-minute mark, that is until closer Strange Music, which echoes a trend established on its distant predecessor with a near eight-minute runtime accounting for well over a quarter of the album’s overall length. Unlike Intervals closer January And On however, the band don’t just pad this one out with a ticking clock but rather cook up a dynamic, glacial and devastating final effort whose crushing power gives way to a closing minute or so of quiet guitar work that’s far too unsettling to allow for any hopeful reflection.
Comeback records have been a dime a dozen in recent years, but few are ever quite as emphatic as this. SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY have returned not only with their best and bleakest work to date, but one that places them firmly in step with any of the finest bands to emerge in the worlds of mathcore, deathcore and grindcore in the years that they have been away. The band themselves have said that they hope this is the dawn of a new chapter for them, and they couldn’t have asked for a better fresh start than this.
Rating: 9/10
Distractions is set for release on February 17th via Good Fight Music.
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