3 out of 5

Label: Southern

Producer: Atombombpocketknife, Brian Deck (Technical Assistance)

While ABPK’s EP gets off to a rollicking start with two I-could-listen-to-these-for-days tracks – “Disintegrate the New Generation” and “What it Takes to Be Alone,” the quiet and repetitive “Welcome to the Well” sticks out as a 5-minute midpoint, making the average rockers that follow sound like really average rockers.  Which is too bad since the untitled closing track is good blast of instrumental rock, it just starts to slow to wake you out of the latter half of the EP.

The ABPK sound is generally one of post-rock sneer, with slabby sludge guitar riffs and monotone vocals getting cut in half by cool harmonic chords.  It seems like a shtick that should get old, but there’s something about the blend of not unpleasant spoken-yet-urgent singing and heavy, heavy distortion that, when properly stop/start chopped up by the band, works well over the course of the an album.  There’s generally a couple straight-forward rockers in there, but its spread apart more effectively than the unfortunate downhill sequencing belies on this mini album.  And the openers really wring that sound for all its worth, the feedbacky ring just pushed to the limit before the guitar slams back in.  This isn’t to skip over the low-end, which are there, rumbling with mass effect, giving the riffs their grounding, but the guitar is definitely what your ear picks out.

Still, it’s a short listen, so by the time you realize you stopped paying attention in the middle of “Welcome,” the opening noise blast of the untitled track stirs enough interest to hit play one more time to see what you missed.