Three gritty songs on the classic Northwest grunge/alternative label C/Z. Overall, a solid group of songs, but nothing spectacular.

The Wreck song is a dude singing gruffly over a pretty standard feedback-laden, mid-90s alternative jam. Sort of a Leatherface that made radio hits or a Weezer that ate a bunch of gravel every morning. It lacks the melody or interest of both of those comparisons, though, while relying on a guitar lick hook that doesn't really hook. And then it goes on for about a minute too long without presenting any new stuff and then fades out. This appears to be one of their last published songs, perhaps?

Vexed follow up the relative snooze fest with a pepped up grunge intro, focusing on rhythmic driving beats but pairing them with some off-tempo growly vocals. Bass heavy and head bobbing, but not really throwing any melody at us, it cuts off after a concise exploration of the two parts and calls it good. Interestingly, this also seems to be a last appearance for the band.

The Engine Kid track is why I spent time finding this release (and I like C/Z stuff because it is weird). It does not disappoint. From the first note, it is a challenge to those that love melody, blasting out discordant pairings of notes and following it up with whispered lyrics over a barely played guitars and drums. We continue this jarring combination of extreme quiet and extreme noise for the whole of the song, eventually seeking the complete destruction of all audio equipment via ultimate volume and dissonance, it seems. Just hints of talking over tickled guitars and drum mics turn to 0.0001 in between smashing the faders to 111 and back again. It's a pretty incredible exploration of volume and dynamics, even if I would like a melody to latch on to. Definitely worth a couple bucks to experience.

If you like this review, you can buy me a coffee.