Sounds Like Hell is an irregular feature on old and new noise rock.
The Wednesday Society’s Anxiety and Neurotic Disorders is an exercise in the art of the album, where the whole is much greater than the sum of its songs. From the opening moments of instrumental prelude ‘.’ to the closing section of the otherworldly ‘Drub (Aum)’, every riff, every beat, every tectonic thud of the bass and every reverb-drenched rallying cry is perfectly placed to evoke the sensations that the album’s title hints at – neuroses, paranoia and despair.
Which is not to say The Wednesday Society dealt only in hopelessness; instrumental numbers like the interlude ‘Twlg’ and ‘Non’ boast sophisticated progressions, infectious riffing and stirring crescendos. But the quartet were at their best when they tapped into that deep frustration like on ‘All We Do Is Butcher Everything’, where vocalist Brendan Jay repeats a series of platitudes that grow more menacing with each utterance. In the mid-section he spits: “let us find a future/to beat it down” over the off-kilter thud of James Sher’s bass, before musing a minute later: “processed to perfection, artificilially enhanced/versus hippie shit, organic/manufactured for the use of every common man” over an increasingly frenetic rhythm section.
It’s a shame The Wednesday Society never produced a follow-up to this record; after frequent gigging following its 2009 release, their shows tapered off before they quietly announced their break-up in 2012. Until the reunion (fingers crossed), In the meantime, the album lives on (for free) on Bandcamp.
