5 out of 5

Label: SAF Records

Produced by: Steve Albini

This is, essentially, what you hope your punk band will grow up to be.  Not post-punkers, or some kind of baleful reinvention as pop or melodic punkers, but a group that certainly retains all of the speed and power and aggression of the genre but brings in, y’know, more intelligence and maturity.  And doses of restraint.  And Steve Albini.  And maybe being from Auckland, I dunno.

Blazing through ten tracks in under 30 minutes, D!3 (yes, I will use this) lullingly marching-drum us into the explosive ‘Disappear Here,’ which introduces the album’s main conceit of thrilling bass and drum interplay while Andrew Wilson rocks a simple but effective riff atop, shouting clipped but interesting thoughts.  While Albini’s name can show up anywhere, his credits on this disc really elevate the noise: it’s raw, and live, and clear, while allowing for some necessary space between notes that prevents the energy from becoming overwhelming.  The album may lack a rousing concluding track, but the trade off is that every single song on here is a useful use of notes; not a minute goes by that isn’t revving you up, and the group has sequenced things such that songs segue from one to another with nary a moment’s rest, and yet the compositions are so strong, you can easily define the track change.

The band would veer more toward true post-punk than punk on later releases, but the underlying passion never dies, and it’s at its barest form on their debut, which makes quite an awesome impression.