Listening to Waxeater‘s Baltimore Record makes me really wish I’d been able to get into The Wire. I certainly would like to be able to analyze exactly how the lyrical content specifically relates to the plight of Omar or the whole Baltimore drug trade.
But I didn’t, and I can’t, so rather than blather on about what I’m missing in analyzing Waxeater’s latest, let’s discuss what makes it so appealing for those such as myself, who came to the band only knowing that their split 7-inch with Lawrence’s Jabberjosh a few years back was flipping intense.
It’s the groove, man. The way they lock in and just fucking go at at the end of “The Bunk” is fucking hypnotic. It could’ve gone on for hours, and I wouldn’t have cared. It’s that good. Baltimore Record is still ridiculously heavy, though. You can freak right the hell out, thrashing all over the place as Waxeater hits stacatto bursts of noise, then dropping right back into that rolling rhythm. That rhythm can be heavy, too — “A Man Has To Have A Code” starts out with this massive riff that’s swampy and sludgy as hell, yet it still manages to fucking swing.
“Cutty Vs. The Tiny Furniture” is the only misstep Waxeater makes. It’s recorded in this weird hollow way that ought to emphasize the rather massive riffage and drum work, but just makes it sound more like it was recorded somewhere other than the rest of Baltimore Record — like a stairwell in a warehouse. It’s minor, though, because the rest of this record sounds super-clear for as noisy and raucous as it is.
You can buy Waxeater’s Baltimore Record from the Latest Flame store on either black or split-color coke bottle clear/white, both 150-gram LPs.