Rusted Shut
Dead (Load)Rusted Shut’s Don Walsh is the cockroach that just won’t die, a result of the singer/guitarist’s “Why not?” approach to rock & roll lifestyles. In that spirit, he returns with the Houston group’s second proper long-player in more than two decades of existence, and they’re certainly in good hands with Providence, R.I., noise label Load Records, home to a similar brood of feral roustabouts. Rusted Shut’s songs depend on volume and repetition, and there’s plenty of it running throughout Dead, but there’s perhaps a few more – gulp – nuances here. Beyond white noise and blown-out guitar, the black tar drone has softened and recongealed. “Feelin Weakened” flails as Rusted Shut’s most controlled outburst to date; when Walsh slurs, “It’s a bad vision of the future,” the pulsing beat takes over and an ecstatic brain rattle follows. And take gaping maw “Addiction,” on which Walsh grunts, “Let anarchy reign.” Why not?
This article appears in July 24 • 2009.