Let's get the roster out of the way because that usually draws people in like moths to a blowtorch. Jordan Blilie (The Blood Brothers) (Vocals), Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) (Guitar), Cody Votolato (The Blood Brothers) (Guitar), Justin Pearson (The Locust) (Bass), and Gabe Serbian (The Locust) (Drums). You're either feeling the flame or I'm feeling the draft of the front door. Chill.
Although Blilie from The Blood Brothers said, "It's kind of like if Alien and Predator started a band instead of fighting each other," I am forced to disagree. It'd be more akin to Alien impregnating Predator and the offspring giving George W. Bush a gnashing blow job while George Bush Sr. snorts Viagra and jacks off to the witnessed carnage. Head Wound City brings the blood bath filled with AIDS, Hepatitis C and other known and unknown pathogens that'll fuck you from the inside out.
On first listen Head Wound City reminded me of contemporary thrash-oriented bands like Das Oath and Some Girls but with Plague Soundscapes Locust feel, minus the keyboards and haphazard speeds. The swarm of distortion is straight forward but manages to throw in the occasional triple axle flip (see "Prick Class" for a lengthy lesson in uncomfortable breakdowns) or self circumcision (see "Trash Zoo" to rise like rockets and explode into a cloud of vast nothing). With Blilie's vocals I'm reminded of The Blood Brothers minus the extreme castration of shrill screams, which I'm totally down for.
If you feel whimsical, visit the link on the bottom of this review to the Head Wound City website. The band write up does more justice to a band than any words have done before. In said bio, Head Wound City seems to brag that their EP contains, "Seven songs in nine minutes, 41 seconds." They forget to mention that about two minutes of that is droning noise. I'm all for short songs, but I'd prefer a little more fuck and little less dry hump. If the end wasn't so long and annoying in the final song, "Michael J. Fox," this album would've gotten a higher score from me. It gets skipped every time I listen due to the Muppet sounding vocal chirping.
You've got your circle jerk of four super scene stars and a dude from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs who wrote and recorded an EP in a week's time. I know and you know this started as a fun project, but so did Some Girls. Here's hoping that Head Wound City can expand to a cavity filled metropolis. Wink wink.
