Gather up enough Dead Space, Flesh Lights, and Swans, and you get a stash of Nazi Gold. The local trio aligns the latter’s god of thunder Thor Harris (Shearwater) with Space man Quin Galavis and Lights bassist Jeremy Steen for a quartet of songs flexing post-punk. Dissonant chord clashes merge with a thrumming rush-and-pound in a nimble clangor driving Steen’s urgent yelp as he works out existential crises. “We Make War” could just as easily be about conflict in the bedroom as on the battlefield, while the juxtaposition of religious iconography and domestic agony in “Maria” achieves a similar depth. The band’s vision culminates in the title track, as a crashing crunge waltz frames Harry Crews’ extrapolation of the UT Tower shootings with a perfect meld of intellectual angst and rock.

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This article appears in January 23 • 2015.

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Michael Toland started writing about music in 1988 on the Gulf Coast, moved to Austin in early 1991, and has inflicted bylines upon the corporeal and digital pages of Pop Culture Press, The Big Takeover, Blurt, Amplifier, Austin.citysearch, the Austin American Statesman, Goldmine, Sleazegrinder, Rock & Roll Globe, High Bias, FHT Music Notes, and, since 2011, The Austin Chronicle.