I’m a bit late reviewing this which means that I naturally went and read what the usual suspects have already written about the release at hand before writing my own review. None of my fellow scribes mention what I thought was the obvious influence while listening to the album. That made me think. It looks like my colleagues are too young to have at the forefront of their mind a certain band and a scene, and from that, it follows, that I’m getting old.
But let’s start at the beginning and with the basics. These Beasts are a three piece from Chicago and Cares, Wills, Wants is their debut full-length. Before this album, the band had released two EPs, Salvor (2016) and These Beasts (2019). Since then, they have amassed a respectable following and in the best way possible: by playing shows and touring. The genre tags that are thrown around regarding their music include doom, stoner, sludge and grunge, but what they really play is good old noise rock, full stop.
Cares, Wills, Wants was recorded at Steve Albini’s studio Electrical Audio and you can tell. Not by Albini himself though, but by Sanford Parker. The quality of the recording is top notch, Parker has done an excellent job. Apart from the recording’s quality, also apparent are the similarities to the 90s noise rock scene. If you have lived through that time, listened to the bands, their albums, and have gone to their shows, noise rock is what will first come to your mind when you press play on Cares, Wills, Wants.
Tracks number one and two, Code Name and Cocaine Footprints, immediately reminded me of Helmet’s Meantime (1992). Not later Helmet albums, just Meantime. While the vocals on Cares, Wills, Wants are harsher and mixed below the instruments, there is a similar no frills approach regarding the music. Meaning? The riffs are fairly straightforward, but the sound is hard-hitting, groovy, heavy and intense, with effects being used economically. There is also a very similar vibe of supressed aggression, anger and frustration. Dark emotions, simmering just below the surface, about to explode. As the album progresses, the band shows more diversity in sound, displaying a wider spectrum of emotions, but up until track number five, Blind Eyes, nothing much changes. Blind Eyes has the first really different soundscape, including a stoner bass line and trilling guitar riffs that reach surprising heights. There is an actual melody leading you through the track like a red thread. Instead of aggression the prevailing emotion here is melancholia, the action carrying on.
In case someone missed the reference to the modern plague on the album cover, the closing track Trap Door has a description of COVID symptoms as an intro, pointing at the origin of the negative feelings. The band says that the loneliness of lockdowns, friends passing, and the loss of family all reflect in the lyrics and the music, the album title representing conflicting things that you had to juggle.
An emotional rollercoaster ride, anxious and antsy, Cares, Wills, Wants is not an easy listen, but it is certainly a cathartic one. So, if you are in need of catharsis, give it a go.
(7.5/10 Slavica)
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