The Blood Brothers’ 2000s releases are among the most enduring of that decade, from the barely controlled chaos of March on Electric Children and Burn, Piano Island, Burn! to the smoldering wreckage of Crimes and Young Machetes. Expectations shot sky high when Johnny Whitney announced a new project recording with Piano Island producer Ross Robinson, and while no album release date has been announced, I will spend the foreseeable future checking for it.
Evil Island are former Blood Brothers Whitney, Cody Votolato, and Mark Gajadhar, along with Autry Fulbright II, formerly of OFF! and …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead.
Musically, this picks up pretty close to the Blood Brothers, with Whitney shrieking his trademark provocations and unsettling images: “If I sawed off my head, would you throw it at children?” The music supporting Whitney’s unhinged performance is a little more accessible, but think back to moments like that riff that kicks off “Set Fire to the Face on Fire”.
The Blood Brothers have excelled at piling experimentation atop catchy riffs, sounding chaotic by weaving noise with accessibility. “Tiger Baby” is a progression of that, one that reminds us how much the Blood Brothers were missed. Their influence is evident in bands like Chat Pile, but honestly, no band did screamo hardcore better than them. Their scathing criticism of the George W. Bush administration on Crimes pushed them to new heights and arguably to their best record. With Whitney likely putting Trump in his crosshairs, this promises to be an explosive debut release.