Rack THE JESUS LIZARD

explicit

Released on 9/13/24 by Ipecac Recordings
Main artists: The Jesus Lizard
Genre: Alternative & Indie

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During their '90s heyday, the Jesus Lizard seemed like a group of some of the skeeviest, scariest old dudes around. And while the band members may not have been chronologically that much older than their crowds—they were all tail-end Boomers—their energy was not too dissimilar to that of a middle-aged psychopath. Now that all of the members are actually middle-aged, it should come as no surprise that their first new studio album since 1998 finds them fully embracing the sweaty, unhinged intensity of their early work, rather than taking up where they left off with 1998's atypically artful Blue. Of course, 2024 Jesus Lizard is explicitly a nostalgia act—the band has had two runs of reunion shows already—so for Rack to be anything other than a manifestation of the vibes evoked by Goat (1991) and Liar (1992) would be both disappointing and pointless. But here's the trick: the Jesus Lizard has always been a band of willful contrarians, delighting in upending expectations while simultaneously challenging their audience. (To wit: the aforementioned Blue, which was both too much of a left turn for the band's punk fan base while also being utterly incomprehensible to mainstream rock record-buyers.) Thus, Rack brings the wild-eyed energy of Jesus Lizard's glory years, but it does so in a way that's also unmistakably contemporary and even a bit weirder than one may expect. Although it blasts out of the gate with the tight, taut, and remarkably straightforward "Hide & Seek," it's not long until the razorwire dirge of "Armistice Day" makes it clear that Rack is going to be far from a monochromatic replay of their Touch & Go years. It's worth noting that Yow's voice is something of a different beast than it was in the '90s; his singing is more musical and dynamic, imbuing the material with an emotional range that goes beyond spit-flecked lunacy. Thankfully, the music is similarly broad-minded, and the clean, direct recording style suits this approach and the material. And although cuts like "Dunning Kruger," "Grind," and "Moto(R)" will slot neatly into reunion tour setlists, it's numbers like "Swan the Dog" (are those acoustic guitars?) and the slow-burning lounge-lizardry of "What If?" that prove there's plenty of room for growth on the nostalgia circuit. © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz

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The Jesus Lizard

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