Unrefined and unrelenting, 2018’s NOT(e)WORTHY from England’s The Penny Antics is a rabble-rousing raucous-fest that hearkens back to a time when wearing flannel 24/7 was rad and destroying your instruments on stage nightly was innovative. Within the five tracks presented here, Lewis Hammond and Shane Wood share a masterful display of everything that made old school Grunge, Indie, and Pop Punk of the ’90’s so much fun.
Channeling the rawness of Nirvana and Local H with the snarl of Mudhoney and Citizen Dick, opener “I Don’t Care” is a blast from the past yet fresh and fancy-free at the same time. Hammond’s guitars are just as biting as his vocals while Wood bashes away relentlessly throughout this introductory salvo.
“Pincushion” opens things up a bit, expanding the length and The Penny Antics brand sounding like older Therapy? at times with a wall of sound backing a hypnotic refrain leading towards a sharp chorus. “Fights” yanks on the heartstrings as this acoustic-driven number shows off a softer, but no less biting, side to the duo while the title track ramps things back up with sinister sounds heralded by one helluva gnarly riff to start.
And then it all comes crashing down as “Headcheese” concludes the EP with this seemingly simple shredder that’s a loud, fast, and heavy banger that’ll linger on in yer melon long after the closing chords conclude.
NOT(e)WORTHY is out now and can be yours to stream by heading here or to purchase digitally by going here. For more on The Penny Antics, head here, here, or here.