4 out of 5

Label: Trance Syndicate

Produced by: Steve Albini

The mastering is for shit, and I’m pretty sure Albini encased the drums in a tin can for recording, and first listening blush will scream (pun, perhaps, intended) 90s Touch and Go sludge – or one of its subsidiaries, e.g. Trance Syndicate in this case – but it is to one’s detriment to allow their discerning fingers to flip past Distorted Pony in the used bin (tellingly a common find therein, hinting at the likeliness of the above description being applied in haste…), lest they wince in pain and draw back said disc-flipping hand to discover fingers missing and blood a’spurting.

Go ahead and let out a yowl of pain: you’ve cast Pony aside, and in your ignorance, it done reared up and bit ya.

Don’t worry: I, too, am missing fingers.

As you turn up the volume to overcome that unfortunate whisper-quiet mastering, the industrial pummeling of the drums undoubtedly catches your ear.  Then, Albini’s graces become more apparent, bit by bit: the hollow recording is the perfect match for Pony’s unremitting coldness, and also, oddly helps to allow their attack to feel well rounded; with all elements mixed to a higher volume, this could very quickly overwhelm, but presented in this rather raw style, the fury feels real and not a processed approximation.  The marvel is in how much the group can milk from this; a similar act like Unwound tends to hit the same pitch song to song, but Pony are capable of leaning back on post-rock breakdowns for space, or suddenly dropping a standard drumbeat and riff before redloying their mechanical death chugga-chugga strike.  The lyrics underline the m.o. further: Dora Jahr’s words evoke coldness, and loneliness, but aren’t just verbal slings and arrows: its point/counterpoint stuff and worth checking the lyrics sheet for.

Toward disc’s end we do start to get into some rehash.  A couple riffs make you think the album has already repeated, and the attempted slowburn lead-in of closer A Fine View from the Temple isn’t quite dynamic enough to sell the quiet to loud shift.  Nonetheless, this is an oft overlooked hardcore gem that’s more intelligent and diverse, by far, than many albums released in the years since.