Bleep

You can always rely on !!! for a party. The NYC dance-punk veterans have proven themselves to be one of the most consistent acts of the 2000’s, cranking out album after album of righteous grooves and slamming basslines.

!!! - that’s still pronounced Chk Chk Chk, by the way - don’t mess with the formula too much on eighth LP Wallop. Wallop almost acts as an extension of 2017’s Shake The Shudder, a record that presented some of !!!’s most succinct and streamlined songwriting to date. Many of the tracks here are anchored by a punchy one-two of disco big-beats and juicy bass hooks (be they provided by electric bass or a synthesiser). Cuts such as ‘My Fault’ and ‘This Is The Door’ are pure and effortless club rushes. The band also dabble in other dancefloor styles towards the back-end of Wallop - there’s a two-step shuffle somewhere in ‘Domino’ while ‘Rhythm Of The Gravity’ has a bit of Bomb The Bass about it.

There is also a feeling of unpredictability that creeps into several of the more disco-indebted tracks here. !!! often opt for massed vocals, a tactic that whips the likes of ‘Off The Grid’ and ‘Slow Motion’ into near-hysterical frenzies. This brings a pleasing element of chaos into play - while the band’s sound might have tightened up since the frenzies of Louden Up Now, their combustible music still maintains that exciting sense of wildness.

With Wallop, !!! have managed to maintain both their knack for crafting killer dance-punk and their sense of adventure.