Weak Teeth, “Weak Teeth” 7-inch

cover-weak-teethWeak Teeth
Weak Teeth
(the Cottage Records)

Records that appear in the Nuthouse mailbox completely unsolicited and unknown are my favorite kind to review. I tend to try and guess what the album’s going to sound like before I throw it on the turntable. Occasionally, I’m helped out by the artist’s note. In this case, Weak Teeth describe themselves as “passionate punk / screamo / d-beat.”

I’d have to agree, especially on the “passionate” part. Their singer’s delivery reminds me of Stretch Arm Strong’s Chris McLane, in that he half sings, half shouts his vocals, but without the usual guttural-to-croon sound that you usually encounter in screamo. With these vocals, it’s more like the singing’s a more melodic shout, and vice-versa. The instrumentation is rough, but not sloppy, by any means. The recording lets the band’s natural fuzz come through, and this is the sort of record that leads me to believe it’s a pretty accurate representation of what you’d hear if you saw Weak Teeth live.

It all really comes together on the closing track, “…And They Shall Inherit the Earth,” which is almost an epic in its length. Well, actually, it’s only three minutes, but that’s a full 50% longer than any of the other four tracks. It manages to vary tempo, and display a sense of virtuosity the first four songs hint at. It builds and builds as it goes along, galloping along until it explodes.

You can buy the album digitally from Weak Teeth’s Bandcamp page, since it doesn’t appear to be in the Cottage Records store yet (despite the fact it came out back in June).