Album Reviews
Last year, Sweden’s Sweet Teeth blew me away with the ‘Acid Rain’ EP. Here was this new band that managed to capture all things loud, melodic and anxiety-riddled in short blasts of punked up power pop that still haven’t worn out their welcome. It was Hüsker Du and Dinosaur Jr worship at its finest. So was I looking forward to the band’s debut full-length? Hell yes! Does it disappoint? Hell no!
For ‘High Anxiety,’ the band set out to make an album with zero fat. No long solos, no extras. Just blast through pop songs with plenty of hardcore punk energy. And that’s exactly what they did. Opening track ‘High Anxiety’ kicks off in high gear and immediately finds the right balance between Hüsker Dü’s wall of sound and Dinosaur Jr’s guitar jangle, rounded out nicely by gruff yet melodic vocals that linger between Bob Mould and Dave Grohl. ‘The Lesser The Hope’ is another rager, sonically dense yet still melodic and previously released melancholy-drenched single ‘No Me’ is a late album highlight.
Elsewhere on the album, the Dinosaur Jr influence gets in the driver seat, making for a slightly more mellow listen. ‘Compared To You’ and ‘Soul Sunday’ both are excellent, while ‘Against The Wind’ sounds like a song Bob Mould hasn’t gotten round to writing yet for one of his solo albums.
Yes, I am very aware that I mentioned Hüsker Dü, Dinosaur Jr and Bob Mould about a zillion times in this review. Sweet Teeth wear their influences on their sleeves. Is that a bad thing? Not when it leads to an album as strong as ‘High Anxiety’.
High Anxiety track list:
- High Anxiety
- Love Panic
- The Lesser The Hope
- Compared to You
- Against the Wind
- Soul Sunday
- October
- Break My Heart Again
- Too Good
- Wasted
- No Me
- Don´t Be Afraid