Holy sweet big baby, baby, and just regular big Jeebus combined! Where the hell did this band come from??? Of course we know the answer is “Boston” (Cue pride) but gotdamn if this isn’t some next level Alternative Rawk through and through. At this point in the year, and thinking about what came before and what’s ahead, we can’t imagine any other artist with a better all out Rawk masterpiece than The Endorphins and Nothing Is Real. True Story!
But I digress!
“Anthrophobia” is just the epitome of EVERYTHING. It’s anthemic and loud, eclipsing most everything out there today with its’ wall of sound and exhibiting a kind of rawness not heard since the early daze of Nirvana. Add a proper throttling from Jeff Walsh’s drums, a thunderous bass rumble from Austin Wilson, guitars that literally shriek courtesy of Jordan Scarborough and Matt Bass with Bass’ voice emoting on top and you have the fixings for the only Nu-Grunge you’ll ever need in this day and age. That said, “Propagate” is this kind of serene heaviness that phases in and out of time signatures with an overarching crunch from Scarborough and Bass causing a catastrophe. In the best way possible.
Next, “Introspective Dread” is really two songs in one. For the majority, it’s this swampy dirge that wades in the muck but then opens up into the the best b-side off Queens Of The Stone Age’s debut that was just unearthed (Think “Regular John” on speed) while “All In Time” sounds gargantuan with Bass doling out all the angst in a song that’s like Lou Barlow fronting Local H or Toadies at their respective heights.
We missed talking about “Voyager of a Daydream” the first time around so it’s great to hear in the context here (See what I just did?) and the kind of stadium-sized bravado it plants right about in the middle of Nothing Is Real and then “Joy & Peace” is a nifty little ditty that’s kind of a palette cleanser before “Myopic Dystopia” totally rips it up. And speaking of The Endorphins’ most recent single, we could just link to our recent review of “Myopic Dystopia” but that’s kind of cheating, right? It’s Desert Rawk at its’ finest and gets stuck in our heads way more often than it should lately but in doing so, reveals layers upon layers after each listen. But that’s really the best kind of music and a testament to the songwriting power of The Endorphins as a unit.
“Paresthesia” keeps the momentum going eight tracks in with a song that’s like modern Bob Mould at his most Rawk anthem readiness jamming with TSOL which leads into the buzzing, hypnotic grand Rawk opus of “Time Is Out Of Your Control” that, in turn, ends up at the butterfly emerging from a cocoon after chrysalis that is “What Is Real?” as it regales listeners with sounds that hold heart and so much heaviness.
“New Wave Blackout” is Nu Husker Du fronted by Dave Grohl (What we’re saying, kiddies, is that Matt Bass has many voices) that’s loud and bombastic with boatloads of melodic madness across the board and brings us to “Inside Of The Perpetual Synopsis” which has a LOT going for it. First, the name! Second, it’s epic! And third, The Endorphins made it so going by what we’ve said so far it has to be good. Actually, it’s great! A huge-sounding album closer, “Inside…” is brimming with energy from its’ onset with Walsh and Wilson producing an impenetrable rhythmic groove that hums throughout as Bass’ impassioned vocal delivery coupled with his and Scarborough’s wailing guitar licks offer the very best of what The Endorphins has to offer for one last blast of Nothing Is Real.
Nothing Is Real is real on November 11th. You can head here now for all the pertinent pre-save and pre-order links and for the latest from The Endorphins, follow them across ye olde socials by clicking here, here, or here.
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