Album Review: Retox - YPLL

Retox's major label debut, YPLL, will win over its fans and lose its detractors ten seconds into its blistering opener, Modern Balls. The hard-edged, crunchy, vocals-on-the-beat punk song is the kind of tune you just know comes from a band that exists for live anger.

Mature Science suitably, given its name, is one of the more mature and well-constructed songs on YPLL. Still clocking in under two minutes, as all but two songs on this 22-minute album do, the album recalls Dead Kennedys-style guitar and an almost Black Flag level of intensity.

Stellar standout track, Congratulations, You Are Good Enough, almost dips into noise-rock territory with its furious and wild drumming backing a bludgeoning bass line. The band's tight musical interplay, combined with a neat, no-nonsense production aesthetic, keeps things from ever falling into a muddled mess.

This is the beauty of YPLL. For all of Retox's anger and nihilism (both lyrically and musically), the album exists more as a tightly-bound wire than a garbled mess. The group escape the failures of so many similar bands by having a clear musical ideal and committing to it with passion. This is a humourless record, sure, but it's also a modern punk album that kicks arse without irony or overt political sloganistic nonsense.

Comparisons to other bands are almost essential when dealing with modern punk rock, which by its very definition is sonically limited and, at times, at an absolute stuck point. Retox's YPLL isn't the art rock saviour it may be touted as, but it's a nonetheless impressive, aggressive and forward-thinking fiery record, deserving of any punk's record collection for 2013.