4 out of 5

Label: Computer Students

Produced by: Shane Hochstettler

Lulled from dormancy once then twice by Africantape / Computer Students label guy Julien Fernandez, we are blessed with a relatively close followup to Knife of Sin – End Comes Too Soon – with production taken over from regular mate Steve Albini (who passed around this time) by fitting bombast maker Shane Hochstettler.

While it’s pretty easy to say that ‘End’ is in line with the Big’n sound – Akins’ howling, menacing vocals over post rock stabs of pummeling from drummer Brian A. Wnukowski and bassist Mike Chartrand, guitarist Todd Johnson slathering in juxtaposing angular riffs – this album is definitive. Decades on, a hardcore band either “matures” with lusher arrangements or whatnot; or does a kind of greatest hits shtick; or maybe they iterate and find a new way of expressing their sound that doesn’t require as much yelling. Knife of Sin and Spare the Horses before that made it pretty clear Big’n could still bring it, but they were pretty short EPs; effective blasts from the past, modernized after a chunk of years. That’s not to discredit those, but they’re so comparatively brief that it’s hard to say – are they back? Setting aside that ‘End’s album name suggests a conclusion, whether or not Big’n do return after this is irrelevant: by calling it definitive, I mean that: this has defined the pinnacle of what they’ve always been doing, sharpened by the years between. From afar, songs may sound like they hit a similar beat of intensity, and pace, but there’s so much sound created by this group, on every track, that you find yourself stunned into paying attention, and then discover the depths: the way Akins’ now masterfully controls between his growl and speak-sing; the vicious, self-deprecative mantras, mixed with visuals of the unforgiving outdoors and black magics; the way Shane embraces the rhythm sections anti-rock flows, highlighting the kind of minimalist / maximalist approach that rings the most out of each note without needing to necessarily overwhelm us with tons of them, or excess volume. It’s heavy, punishing stuff.

I still find the little snippets inserted between songs as rather distracting; these work as bookends for the vinyl sides, but inbetween songs… not so much. However, I’ll still allow that as definitive – even if I view it as a negative – because the group has always done this, and it’s especially purposefully done this time around. Also, yeah: all that intensity I’m mentioning can get pretty exhausting by album’s end, but I keep getting the vibe of it – the feeling of the tunes – stuck in my brain, and putting it on again, despite that exhaustion, then find it to be oddly melodic as well; the band is in sync, and that comes out from the initial listen and gets stronger thereafter.

An absolute beast of a listen. I hope we get another album some years on, but if not, man, this has been a career of the band one-upping itself, time and time again.