Pleasure Forever - Alter

Label: Sub Pop
Year: 2003

We've covered the VSS before, and I think we covered Angel Hair as well, but we never did get to Pleasure Forever (or Slaves for that matter).
Well, that's dumb, especially when concerning such smart music.
You see, Pleasure Forever might have risen from the smoldering ashes of one of the best hardcore bands of a previous generation, but they quickly dispatched of that frantic noise and began embracing an altogether more sinister tone. A tone that takes from the murder ballad Nick Cave-isms of Black Heart Procession, and injects some driving Girls Against Boys post hardcore by way of the Doors seedy underbelly-of-the-city-at-dawn bad vibes. A complex mix, but never inaccessible. If you put your ear real close you'll hear why Gold Standard Laboratories issued the vinyl version. The elements of gothic and death rock and classic dark punk (the Damned) are all bubbling just below the surface, and add a suitably unsettling "feel".
This is a record I revisit often, it has a timeless quality that holds your attention with each subsequent listen.

DL