Even though they just put out their first reunion album, noise rockers The Jesus Lizard have been back in the habit of putting on killer live shows for quite some time. The group originally got back together in 2008 and held things together for a few years before disbanding once agin, only to reunite for a third time in 2017 and they've been holding it together with a white-knuckle grip ever since. On those initial comeback tours, the band stuck to their original brutalist tunes from the '90s, but this time around the band has been able to draw from their raw and punishing new record, Rack. Somehow flying under a lot of music publication's radars this past year, the first new album from the band in twenty-six years firmly picks up right where the band left off at the end of the '90s and while it doesn't reinvent the wheel, it proves that it doesn't need to and that everything fans of the band loved during their initial run is still as relevant and powerful today. In other words, the band's sound isn't broken so there was no point in changing it up now. The eleven new songs are squarely in the court of this quartet and it feels like these songs couldn't have come from any other band. The howling yelp of David Yow still squeals with despair and the razor-sharp guitar licks from Duane Denison are just as piercing as ever, while David Sims' bass acts like a bulldozer and Mac McNeilly's drums thud like Thor's hammer. On stage it also felt like no time has passed as the group dove straight into screeching, metallic guitar riffs that were met with the guttural, pounding punishment of the rhythm section all while Yow paced around the stage before launching himself into the crowd time and time again. Like a battering ram, the blasts of noise hit with extreme purpose and rang throughout the venue as the band delivered their unrelenting set to a crowd that was primed and ready to rage. The ragged intensity of the band's music was electric and seething with energy, the high octane guitar absolutely annihilating anything in its path while Sims' fingers walked all over the fret board of his bass as he dug deep into complex grooves that were all held together by the firm punch of McNeilly behind the kit. Even though the guitar and bass stood solidly planted on stage, it was still a reckoning of sound and one that really had the room reeling. After instructions to the crowd to let him swim over the top of the pit and float over the audience, Yow successfully made his way all over the venue as people paraded him around as he flailed about to deliver his menacing vocals. Falling on top of me during the third song of the night wasn't something I expected to experience as I stood closer to the band, but the magnetism of the band really pulled everyone in and it was hard to not want to be part of the action. With each electrifying riff, the crowd roared with thunderous approval for so many of the band's classic tracks and even though some of the newer tunes weren't initially met with the same mass approval, it was still an absolute highlight to watch them deliver them with the same spirit, passion, and intensity as the ones fans have been clinging to for decades. After a raucous set, the band came back for an encore and got the crowd riled up once more for a heavy and hard hitting dose of ballistic punk before bidding farewell and Yow repeatedly announcing the following night's show in Boston. After people began to file out, the group re-emerged one more time and delivered their final blow to seal the deal and demonstrate how they're still experts in their craft.
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