You can almost hear Cody Kimbell tying a noose as he recites, “Misery is wasted on the miserable” over a sludge-burbling bassline on “Ms. Wakefield.” On their third release in as many years, Austin’s young noise punk quartet has crafted its best work by converting the mundane into inspiration. Over punishing start-stop rhythms and guitars exhaling distortion – recalling Jesus Lizard circa 1990 and the Refused circa 1996 – Super Thief’s losing streak of boredom, self-doubt, and rat-race nihilism fuels powerful missives touching on artistic indignity (“I Don’t Know About You or Your Band”), traffic on I-35 (“Sheepsquid”), and paranoia (“Books w/ No Pages”). Astonishingly, Kimbell’s redline screams are easily decipherable. Good thing, since he’s a poet at peak desperation.

***.5

This article appears in August 11 • 2017.

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