5 out of 5

Label: Friends Records

Produced by: Chris Freeland

Classic Oxes can be… a lot. It’s a lot of bluster. That was their shtick: be loud and chaotic. And even though this notoriety was built on the back of live shows, it translated well enough to albums. However, even as a massive instrumental rock/metal fan, that bluster can have some downstream effects – the group’s early 00s records have a layer of remove; of smarm. And although that effect is purposeful, over time I’ve realized it makes me less likely to frequent those discs.

With time, that layer got stripped down a bit, and in (what has seemed to be) their final releases in the early 2010s, the chaos was maintained but controlled: a dribble of EPs delivered everything I loved about the band’s general clatter, but without some of the excess.

Bile Stbudy is perfect. It’s maybe actually two perfect songs and one great one, but the sequencing makes that great one a layup for a B-side dunk; it’s a perfect set to listen to all at once. Kicking off with the title track, this is the proof of concept of the “new” Oxes sound: it’s kind of a traditional rocker… until the riff truly kicks in. The guitar wizardry on this one kills, and it combines with the propelling drumming and backing riff so that this no longer feels as showboaty as before, while maintaining the kind of unleashed vibe of the band. Followup Crunchy Zest is, perhaps, your “traditional” Oxes track, breaking down and restarting over some raw rock. It lacks that extra zing of something new, but it’s a great Oxes track, period, and sets us up for the closer. B-side Orange Jewelryist plays the same trick as the opener, giving us a baseline and then letting loose on top of it.

Oxes still, 100%, know how to have fun. But they thankfully ditched some of the off-hand ‘tude that they started with – it’s a shtick that could only work for so long – and matured into carefree but polished rockers.