ALBUM REVIEW: Bronson Arm – Bronson Arm

Michigan duo BRONSON ARM are back to build on their previously released work, with just the two of them – guitar and drums – working together to create cacophonous industrial noise. From start to finish the duo leave the impression that they intend to sink a listener into anxiety through thrilling fashion. This self-titled debut is jaw-droppingly full of reverb and distant vocals that create a chilling atmosphere. 

The record borrows from their previously released material, four of the first five tracks of Bronson Arm are from a string of 2021 releases, which can feel a little bit cheap for existing listeners, almost like you’ve been conned out of something more, or what could’ve been. It doesn’t take away from how good the material actually is though; opening track Pleasure Brea is made up of mid-paced riffs and thundering drums, making angsty and cold air for the opening as Blake Bickel’s distant vocals add a haunting element to the track. It’s a great first impression of the duo, followed by the rattling of loose baritone strings as Hard Pass barges in soon after. The sound is desolate, like post-war dystopias, BRONSON ARM want to give the impression that what you’re hearing could very likely be the end of modernity in society. A tempo that’s slow and wading builds up this gradual burner for a finishing adrenaline shot where Bickel ends yelling with a coarse vocal in his throat. It goes from pretty clear to 40 a day real quick — you’ve got to love it.

You won’t find much difference in the rest of the originally released tracks, they’re all heavily laden down with anxiety and dread coated sounds, which for how they’re structured becomes stale a little too soon for rereleased work. Being a duo with only a guitar and drums as their featured instruments is bare bones enough, and a positive, but the road that leads them down can quickly become repetitive. On that positive note, they use the minimal instruments to their advantage; with production as their friend they make Bickel’s baritone guitar sound as tall and intimidating as they like, making it an adversary for Garret Yates’ drums to compete with. They’re stuck in a perpetual one versus one, where the ebb and flow of the race to the top makes space for either of them to excel at one time without it being a pissing competition. 

Shorter tracks like Drain The Coffers and Patsy Ultima are fun, short, bursts of irregular rhythm without becoming mathy, or treading into the waters of somehow becoming confusing with just two instruments. Despite those fun moments, longer tracks like Rabbit Starvation and His Ilk make the record feel drawn out and a labour to listen to. If this self-titled album had been an EP it could’ve been phenomenal but instead it’s an overly ambitious noise punk affair that harms itself. BRONSON ARM could’ve done with someone to remind them that less is more, that they don’t have to release the next dystopian PROTOMARTYR record.

Rating: 6/10

Bronson Arm is out now via Learning Curve Records.

Like BRONSON ARM on Facebook.