Noise rock bands seems to thrive when they’re made of three members. However, this feels paradoxical, considering less instruments means less cacophony with which to craft and crush. Chicago trio Salvation doubled down on the love of threes on third LP Year of the Fly.
The title track, now accompanied by a video, kicks off with a one-two count before a steady climb. The space afforded by the band’s relative compactness allows the bass to build while a key noise element, feedback, stretches. The resultant workout runs through exercises that touch on trio peers past and present: Whores, Unsane, the Melvins and Nirvana. Hell, a slightly more metallic edge would turn it into a full-on metalcore banger. It’s a full flex of the musical muscles of mayhem (the feeling, not the band).
The goal with the video was similar. It accomplishes discomfort via shots of faces battered, appendages restricted and shoulders dripped with what appears to be hot wax. Video director/producer Katie Bellamy explains the execution.
“When approaching this video, I wanted to make sure that I truly captured a visual representation of Salvation’s raw and delectably chaotic sound. While drawing some inspiration from early 90s alternative videos, we came up with a concept that was cohesive with the direction of the album and titular song. We wanted the audience to feel uncomfortable and isolated, so my DOP (Michael Tilly Parks) and I worked on different ways to manipulate the images in camera to convey that. In the end, it blossomed into a tale of the inherent loneliness that we all feel in modern society, and the vices that we use to combat it.”
You can watch the creepy clip in the player below.
Year of the Fly is out now on Forge Again Records. You can buy it on vinyl or CD here.
