United Nations may present themselves as a dangerous and irreverent collaboration, but testing the limits of copyright law is more tedious than perilous.
Receiving cease and desist orders from that other United Nations may seem like a big deal, but considering the band’s Facebook page remains active and the existence of a new album… well, let’s just say the international body has further demonstrated their ineffectiveness in realms beyond the socio-political. The band – featuring Thursday’s Geoff Rickly backed by members of Lovekill and Pianos Become The Teeth – continues mining punk culture for themes, but despite the Black Flag-inspired title and artwork, this album’s biggest influence comes from black metal. Where their baseline screamy hardcore once shared space with grind and power violence, The Next Four Years takes cues from the frosty north with rapid-fire atonal guitar picking, driving blasts and Rickly’s reverbed and distorted banshee wail. Songs like Fuck The Future are more Gehennah than Glassjaw, while Stole F#A#$ impressively injects post-hardcore melody into the chromatic riffing, making for an overall interesting listen.
Via Temporary Residence
