ALBUM REVIEW: Down The Hole – The Anomalys

Dutch punks THE ANOMALYS are back with their latest album Down The Hole. The record is a follow-up to their 2022 release Glitch, and comes with a pledge that this album will be unlike anything we’ve heard from them before with a promised emphasis on volume, fuzz, distortion and speed. All mentioned objectives are achieved, although listening to the record it feels like maybe this was put above the actual quality of some songs.

Things do start out strong with the first two songs Anxiety and Despair. The former is a distorted fuzz session that brings in elements of surf rock along with different styles from across the past few decades of rock, namely the 60s, 80s, and 00s. To call it chaotic would be to downplay what we experience here, yet it’s chaos in the best way possible on this mostly instrumental intro track. Despair on the other hand focuses on everything loud and unhinged, with an unapologetic fast and brash punk style that is composed like a downward spiral as we head towards the song title.

Following this is the decent Go Away, an angry and straight to the point shouty track, and Flat Top that brings in alternative elements and what sounds like a didgeridoo with noise effects placed over it. However, by this point, the chaotic distortion THE ANOMALYS are so eager to focus on ends up coming at the expense of the quality and the listener’s ability to enjoy the songs. There’s good unhinged that one can appreciate and have fun with, and then there’s chaos that leaves you confused and put off from listening to more.

On My Way, which is meant to be fun and bouncy as it brings back the surf rock ends up being an unlikable mess; Coke Head is just disjointed noise and shouting for the sake of it, unless it’s meant to be an accurate representation of being in the state of the song title which in that case we could forgive; and Innocence is honestly hard to remember much at all from as it all sounds like a mess. It is worth praising the band for the final song Slaughterhouse which is of a higher production quality and is able to capture the excitement of watching a chase scene. We also appreciate bring back the downward spiral that we heard in Despair.

There’s unhinged that’s brilliant and then there’s unhinged that’s just unbearable. Somehow THE ANOMALYS exist in both categories, and whether that’s a good thing or not is up for debate.

Rating: 6/10

Down The Hole is out now via Slovenly Recordings.

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