Sharks and Sailors
s/t
( self-released ) 2006

In only 3 songs, Houston-based Sharks and Sailors pay full homage to all that's good and noisy in guitar-heavy indie rock. Like California's Calling All Monsters, Sharks and Sailors reside in a world where the indie is far more rock than pop, waving their Icky Mettle flag high and dusting off the distortion pedals for all to enjoy. Opener "Battle" rumbles and bashes its way to a dual guitar running start. There are some nice little Pinback-y moments in the song when things quiet down and tense up, but that tension is dutifully released in a jagged ball of tangled guitars. "Skin Like Iron" is even more raucous, all cymbal crashes and raw-throated yelping twisting through a host of stop-start misdirections. Closer "Topple the Pillar" is particularly brutal, reflecting as much (gulp) early Tool as, say, Polvo. The sound's a little dated but the band has both the skill and enthusiasm to pull it off. For fans of Archers of Loaf, old beat-up Japanese hatchbacks and 1993.

>> by : Rooney | today was in October of 2006.