Protomartyr – Formal Growth In The Desert – Album Review
by Killian Laher

Detroit band Protomartyr are a complex and at times difficult band.  Lumping them in with post-punk does them a massive disservice, they are way more complex than that.  They are purveyors of knotty but interesting rock, combining frontman Joe Casey’s shoutiness with Greg Ahee’s tough, taut guitar lines.

Their sixth album opens with Make Way, a ‘stop-start’ track which swings between brooding and Casey roaring “MAKE WAY!” in the chorus along with some steel guitar, anchored by Ahee’s cool-as-fuck riffing.  Steel guitar is one instrument you would not expect this band to utilise, but they have Bill Radcliffe using it across several tracks here.  Don’t worry, it’s not ‘Protomartyr goes country’!  For Tomorrow calls to mind Iggy & The Stooges on Raw Power, a visceral, grinding track.  Elimination Dances is moodier fare, accompanied by outstanding guitar work from Greg Ahee. It sounds menacing, in a good way, and is one of the strongest tracks here.  Fun In Hi Skool has a brawny Casey vocal over skittering percussion.

Midway through the album, we get Let’s Tip the Creator.  It’s slower than what came before, but still manically intense, Ahee avoiding the obvious guitar lines in favour of more interesting ones, over intricate, nervy percussion.  The slow-burning Graft Vs. Host which follows is darker still.  These two tracks are the dark heart of the album and may point the way for future material from this one.  The punky likes of 3800 Tigers and We Know The Rats could be a bit exhausting to listen to, with Casey sounding more brutish than ever.  But then you listen more closely and some extraordinarily good guitar lines emerge.  Some tracks, such as Fulfillment Center, bash along and disappear within two minutes, while others, such as The Author, scratch around in the darkness.  The album winds up with the cataclysmic-sounding assault of the final track Rain Garden.

On the evidence of this, the band sound just as inventive and original as on previous albums.  It’s possibly their least instant and most complex collection of songs to date.

Elimination Dances