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Assertion

Intermission

Written by: PP on 28/09/2021 18:46:01

If 90s style nostalgia wrapped in grungy undertones is up your alley, look no further than Assertion and their debut album "Intermission". It's a brand new project by William Goldsmith (the ex-drummer of Sunny Day Real Estate and Foo Fighters) with songs written over the course of at least fifteen years, thus displaying a knack for exploring a wide variety of styles, albeit most of them related to genres that were popularized during the 90s.

Opener "Down Into The Depths", for instance, draws parallels to the treble-charged fuzzy rock bands like Dinosaur Jr and Superchunk given its buzzing expression featuring punk undertones. Immediately after we're drenched in balladic grunge in the vein of Pearl Jam's quieter material, a nostalgia blast that progresses into an expansive, far-reaching, arena-sized chorus that won yours truly over on first listen. Then there are references to bands like Quicksand and others, while the heavier and louder "Defeated" even asserts some nu-metal influence given its chunky guitar and vocal interplay. Likewise, "Pushed To The Limit" finds itself somewhere in Quicksand realm, but common to all of them is that they are drenched in 90s style alternative rock nostalgia.

So as you can read, "Intermission" contains lots and lots of stylistic exploration, to an extent where it's perhaps a little too much. We're swinging all over the genre map with varying degrees of consistency. The best tracks of the record are those that progress from quieter ballads into crescendoing, spacious soundscapes of guitar distortion and soaring vocals, such as "Supervised Suffering" or the aforementioned "The Lamb To The Slaughter Pulls A Knife", but too many tracks halfway through the record are too anonymous to strike a chord with their listener. There's plenty of material to like here, however, if 90s alternative is your thing, even if it's not among the highlights in this style.

Download: The Lamb To The Slaughter Pulls A Knife, Supervised Suffering, Down Into The Depths
For the fans of: Quicksand, Foo Fighters, Dinosaur Jr
Listen: Facebook

Release date 09.04.2021
Spartan Records