Band:	The Jesus Lizard
Album:	Rack
Style:	Post-Hardcore, Noise rock
Release date:	September 13, 2024
A review by:	RaduP

01. Hide & Seek
02. Armistice Day
03. Grind
04. What If?
05. Lord Godiva
06. Alexis Feels Sick
07. Falling Down
08. Dunning Kruger
09. Moto(R)
10. Is That Your Hand?
11. Swan The Dog


A lot of the times when we bring noise rock into discussion, it's because the line between noise rock and sludge metal is often very thin. Well, that's not the case here. The Jesus Lizard is a tried and true noise rock pioneering band, and this is their first album in a quarter of a century.

I am often very skeptical of reunion albums. I'm fine with reunions, even the ones where not all members involved are originals. I don't mind getting the chance to see a band's songs performed by the members of that band, and I understand that name recognition is important. But to decide to actually take it to the studio, now, in a time when music sales revenues are quite awful and most money is made from touring, has to mean something. Well, for The Jesus Lizard, a band that broke up in 1999 and then reunited in 2017 (save for a shorter reunion around 2010), it does feel quite genuine. First of all it is because all four members that recorded their classic run from 1990's Head to 1996's Shot are present here, and having that exact quartet is just the continuity needed to make it feel authentic. But second of all it is because the band still got it.

With such a huge absence, Rack evades having to feel like a follow-up to any specific record. It doesn't matter that the last time we heard The Jesus Lizard, they had some weird changes to their sound (and one of the worst cover arts I've ever seen) on Blue. It is more like a follow-up to their entire original run, and even though it has the same lineup that all of their albums, save the aforementioned Blue, had, it's still a passage of time and a gaining of age that's obviously gonna come into play. Noise rock is, after all, a pretty energetic and spastic genre, and the thought of a bunch of guys in their 60s doing it can feel like an uphill battle.

So the compromise that Rack does is that it acknowledges that David Yow may not sound as forceful as in his youth, and that the riffing might not be as heavy and manic. I've seen bands like Deep Purple write music around the limitations of their members' ages, to varying degrees of excitement, but here The Jesus Lizard remain exciting by focusing more on noise rock's penchant for the anxious atmospheres and the gnarly dissonant chaos and the disturbingly sarcastic tone of it all. While a lot of that can be experienced in a noticeable heavier form on noise rock bands that edge closer to sludge metal, like Chat Pile or KEN Mode or Couch Slut, The Jesus Lizard can make the lack of that metal-inducing step not feel like a drawback due to how much they're making up for it by applying their personal touch.

And it's not like it's that huge of a compromise that The Jesus Lizard have to make. On a blind listen, I don't think anyone would've guessed the age of the band members. David Yow is still a manic force to be reckoned with, and there's no moment on Rack where it feels like he's being forced to be more restrained. There's few albums made my people at that age that would have such a strong bass presence, such dissonant melodies, ending up making them sound more visceral than a lot of bands half their age. Though it is weird to hear a The Jesus Lizard album that's not produced by Steve Albini, Paul Allen (who I assume must have a business card with some tasteful thickness to it) does a fantastic job of making the sound feel both punchy and nauseating in just the right ways. Rack is also pretty diverse, showcasing some slow burners like "Armistice Day", some songs that give a hint of experimental post-punk like "What If?" and "Is That Your Hand?", punkier cuts like "Dunning Kruger", and some songs where the grooves feel quite rock'n'roll-ish like "Moto(R)".

With the hole left by Oxbow's breakup, it's nice to have one classic noise rock act still feeling exciting in 2024.