01. My Dog Would Fuck The Air
02. Jaundiced And Reaching For A Mother
03. Compelled By Christy
04. House Caught Fire
05. New Jesus
06. Your Name, It's Walking
07. Stomach As A Tower And The Globules Descending
08. Gerard, Be Quiet
09. Kindly, Wash Yourself

With a band name like Truck Violence and an album titled The Weathervane Is My Body, you can expect something strange and original, and that's exactly what you have here.

Truck Violence are a Canadian experimental metal band formed by vocalist Karsyn Henderson and guitarist/banjoist Paul Lecours in 2023. The co-founders grew up together in a small French Canadian town where by the age of fifteen they were running their own local studio radio station, but with very little infrastructure and industry support in place they decided to relocate to Montreal. It was at this point that they met up with bassist Chris Clegg and drummer Thomas Hart, and so the foursome established the band Truck Violence. The band is known for their abrasive sound and unique style that blends many genres, from post-hardcore, sludge, and punk, to shoegaze and noise rock, whilst incorporating rustic folk instrumentation such as the banjo and slide guitar, and for their themes involving domestic dysfunction, substance abuse, and existential isolation.

They released their uniquely impressive genre-bending full-length debut aptly titled Violence in 2024, which paid homage to their small-town upbringing and the harsh realities of rural Canada. Now they return with their sophomore effort The Weathervane Is My Body. What's first striking about this album is the bizarre album cover, shot on Avenue du Parc in Montreal, that depicts a person sitting on top of a small Quebecois-style house looking way out of place against a mighty city skyline. This represents something rural being dropped into the middle of a sprawling city where, being naked and defenseless, it refuses to disappear. The aim of this is to sum up the entire album in one picture, and the profound lyrics coincide with this, exploring paranoia, existential exhaustion under capitalism, and the rise of political fascism.

Musically, the album expands on the debut, blending noise rock, post-hardcore, post-rock, sludge, and Appalachian bluegrass/folk, and is described as being steeped in a DIY ethic that runs deep in Canadian underground culture, built entirely by the hands that imagined it. Both the music and theme it represents is as original and organic as you'll find anywhere in metal. The atmosphere is dense, and at times claustrophobic. The compositions are very dynamic and, more often than not, uncompromising. The guitars vary from heavy chugs and distorted noise, to semi-groovy riffs and technical leads, to then featuring the banjo. The vocals are unhinged, varying from calm folkish singing to harsh, aggressive, and visceral, and are performed with high-end passion. The rhythm is twisted and unpredictable, with complex to stylish drumming helped along by thick powerful bass. The style shifts suddenly from heavy sludge, to aggressive hardcore punk, to pulsating post-rock. Not only is the music authentic but so is the production, with the band choosing to stick to their underground roots whereby they record, mix, and master the album completely in-house and without any studio intervention.

You have to admire the band's ingenuity here; they clearly have no intention of settling into any niche category, instead making a bold statement that says "we are who we are, we are proud of our roots, and we want to direct this to you through our music". However, unfortunately I feel their unique style is experimental to the point that a small specific underground audience might appreciate it more. I think pretentious might be a strong word to describe their particular approach, but I do feel the jarring transitions and stylistic shifts are often too sudden, sometimes breaking the momentum prematurely. The bluegrass elements, specifically the banjo, are for me where the band shine most of all; they're a great feature that add great authenticity, but are unfortunately too sparse, and I feel there would've been no harm in introducing them more often.

Don't get me wrong, there's some wonderful ideas and moments scattered throughout this album, but I don't find it the easiest to digest in one single take; this is where I'm thankful for the short runtime of just 30 minutes. Despite that, Truck Violence are a young ambitious band deep in their traditional roots and have developed a unique style and identity that tells us exactly who they are and where they come from. They only have two albums to their name so far, and I believe this is only the beginning of a long prosperous career that'll be unlike any other in metal.

Performance:	8
Songwriting:	6
Originality:	10
Production:	7