I personally find it effective to compare music to dessert, because I tend to consume a lot of both. Jazz albums are so rich and intense that it’s almost bitter, just like a piece of triple-layered dark chocolate cake. Shoegaze albums feel like warm bread pudding that overtakes your mouth with a heated wave of nostalgic cinnamon sensation. In my experience, punk music is pound cake: a uniform, no-nonsense loaf of straight calories. This is very much the case with debut album Poison Everything from Southern California-based punk band Obliterations. If there was an ingredient list for Poison Everything, it would be a pound each of noisy guitar riffs, classic hardcore drumming and violent aggression.
Right from the get-go, the squealing feedback of “Mind Ain’t Right” assured me that the songs on this LP were going to be exactly what I’d expect from a title like Poison Everything. But Obliterations don’t mess with the creeping noise for too long and within 15 seconds they introduce a sound that will dominate the rest of the album: a high-tempo D-beat with screaming vocals and a straight-business riff, which combined create a tune that represents the fundamentals of hardcore punk.
I usually judge the quality of a punk song by how badly I want to assault everyone in a five-foot radius of me when I listen to it. The best songs on Poison Everything made me want to mosh amongst the dutifully studying students of College Library, where I first listened to the LP. Hearing “I’ll Black You Out” over and over in the song aptly titled “Black Out” was the most enjoyable moment of the entire album.
My satisfaction with the album tended to slow down with the songs themselves. The weakest parts are when the band ditches its high-energy in favor of slow droning jams. Songs like “Poison Everything” and “Shame” seemed to drag on forever, especially because they were twice as long as every other song on the album. While it comes with the territory, a lot of the tracks’ riffs were a little too similar. This is a top-heavy album in the sense that once you’ve heard the first half, you’ve pretty much heard the second.
Obliterations have preserved a classic punk sound on Poison Everything. They realize that when one is looking for pound cake, one does not concern himself with frilly garnishes or delicate pastry flakes. Poison Everything, despite what the title might imply, should be a delectable album for any seasoned punk fan. Just don’t listen to it too much—you might feel bloated.
Rating: B-
