4 out of 5

Label: Doghouse Records

Produced by: Dirk Hemsath

While far from the more balanced sludge to come from Cable across the next 20+ years, debut Variable Speed Drive’s raucous crunch is undeniably the same band; certainly rough around the edges, but already quite beyond much of their then-peers’ bravado.

Much of the story of this disc can be told in the first few tracks, which pummel with punky intensity and throat-searing, growled vocals, the guitars carved from stone and the drums and bass showing off some breaking-up-the-noise interplay – this is the core sound of Variable Speed Drive, some sidesteps aside, and can admittedly become a wash of loud if you let it, though that makes the fairly short runtime (8 tracks in its original version) a safe move.

The first few track names are, similarly, pretty fitting: Needles vs. Nails, Steel Cage Match; and if the vocals can’t always be discerned, the words that stick out aren’t four letter ones, and the phrases seem to often be drawing pessimistic pictures of the world through relatable, but not rote, imagery. But I’d say we’re more here for the intensity, and what’s always drawn me to Cable is, as suggested, already at play: the group’s ability to be loud even when they’re quiet, yet also not overwhelming. There’s some understood need to leave space in their playing style and sound, rocking out as needed but otherwise giving things beats to sink in; past the album’s middle is when this starts to peak with tracks that actually step off the beaten path of volume – Carolina Eyes, The Sinking Vessel – and make some of the revisited chord progressions feel thematic, as songs break down and build up differently than the straight-ahead attacks found at disc’s start.

Encoded within that are a couple light criticisms: that not every song feels distinct all the way through, and though I’m appreciating this loud-but-not-too-loud concept, Variable Speed Drive is pretty amped up for its whole runtime; it is the kind of disc you need to take a break from after a spin or two, as even when the group displays some patience – notes of sludge – it’s in a prototype form, rearing to get back to the quicker pace.

But: it’s still Cable, a group that’s made it through a bunch of iterations and years and has managed to sound surprisingly cohesive throughout, with trademark elements and hefty impact appearing even at this early stage.