Glassjaw - New White Extremity

A thirteen year break between albums is pretty unconventional by any standard – but then Glassjaw have never been a band to even flirt with the idea of convention. Their genre defining second record ‘Worship and Tribute’ is now thirteen years old and hopes of a follow up have been dwindling as the band have undergone various member changes and label disputes, not to mention frontman Darryl Palumbo’s well documented battle with Crohn’s disease. There have been numerous false starts and one off singles but now, for the first time since 2002, we have tangible evidence of a new album.

While Glassjaw have been away from the studio for over a decade they have lost none of the intensity and venom that defined them in the first place. The thrashing guitars and pounding drums that open ‘New White Extremity’ are as intense and punishing as anything on classics like ‘Tip Your Bartender’ or ‘Mu Empire’. When Palumbo’s vocals cut in soaring over the cacophony it serves to confirm that Glassjaw are well and truly back.

‘New White Extremity’ is classic Glassjaw, pushing the boundaries of the post-hardcore bubble that they were originally pushed into, it serves as a reminder that in all the years since ‘Worship and Tribute’ was released no act has managed to emulate their unique approach to heavy music.

If you were to find fault with ‘New White Extremity’ it might be that it doesn’t really push the band in a new direction, but that would undermine the entire point. Glassjaw have always been a band who have done things their way, that they are doing them again at all is a fact for which we should all be grateful.