3 out of 5

Label: Tortuga Recordings

Produced by: Andrew Scheneider

While I’d stand by all of the Ironlung-era Scissorfight albums, their run of EPs started a trend where it seemed like the band would carve off their heaviest, most unruly tracks and give ’em to us in these 5-song sets. Stuff that would be too much on a full length, or covers or somesuch that would maybe feel out of place elsewhere – the EPs felt different in a good, complementary way, and I looked forward to each one.

Victory Over Horseshit introduced us to the slightly more poppy, jangly sound of Jaggernaut with its two intro tracks – sharing songs with a forthcoming album being something of a change – included a previously released track (from The Champions of Sound), and included two further Jaggernaut-esque tunes; this all felt a bit milquetoast in comparison to other EPs, in other words.

And I do think it still suffers from being more of a compilation than its own set – it doesn’t flow like a typical SF release – but given how much I ultimately enjoyed Jaggernaut, getting (essentially) two B-sides in that vein is definitely a plus. Sun Hunt is very interestingly alt-rock, and maybe the least “recognizable” tune from the group, in rootsiness, rawk, and lyrics, but it’s also pretty great for those same reasons, if maybe indicative of why the group split and reformed after this, perhaps having pushed the original SF identity as far along as they could. Closer Transcontinental is really an all-timer, though, bringing back a Mantrapping type of gutsiness, but blended with the slightly more expressive / experimental structures of Jaggernaut.

Ideally, these two songs could’ve been worked into the album itself, as I admittedly rarely take the time to revisit this EP. But when I do, I’m certainly glad it’s in my collection – these are key tunes, and hearing the two Jaggernaut cuts inevitably causes me to put that album on for a spin right after.