Suffering & The Hideous Thieves
Ashamed
Lujo Records

Upon first hearing this record I thought perhaps I was hearing a resurgence of grunge rock blended harshly with a more modern indie-rock format of song arrangement. Well, looking back a week or so into the past I realize that I was pretty wrong. The only way this band could be connected to the early 90’s form of rock is through the vocalist, and they are indeed a vocally driven band. If you haven’t enough of the Eddie Vedder/Chris Cornell sounding vocals, you might like this. Except on Ashamed we have slightly more poetic lyrics applied to a dissonant and dirty voice which seem to follow some sort of theme which attaches itself to the music. That is when I realized how much of an idiot I was. I recognized these vocals! This is Jeff Suffering from Ninety Pound Wuss. So this is certainly not grunge rock, this might just be how the face of punk is evolving. The singer’s vocals do have hope in them when talking about people changing and growing, which is something I was able to connect to. When coupled with the overlapping string arrangements, the vocals seem truly complete. I wouldn’t be able to bare most aspects of this bands music if it wasn’t for the unique insertion of unique instruments and sounds. One song is completely made up of a duet between a violin and an accordion. It makes for an interesting and pleasant transition.

 If I were forced to say something negative about this band it would be summed up in one word: drone. The songs as a whole tend to possess a melancholy sound, which is fine. It is music, it is art, and it is how the artists wish to express themselves. But a few parts of certain songs seem to never end, and stagnate in the same lyrical loops and chord progressions which make no progress.

I had to laugh when I arrived at track four which is a continuation of theme in the previous track, I Will Always Find a Way. At first I thought maybe I was listening to a 45 and someone was messing with the controls on the record player, or maybe I was hearing someone’s duplication of the profound vocal conceptions of Bjork’s release Medulla. You can listen to that yourself and come to your own conclusion. One thing I’ll definitely credit the band with is being different. In a world full of boring release after boring release, the members of Suffering and the Hideous Thieves will likely catch your attention from the start (probably with their name) to the very last track, 1975. This song stands out from the rest of the album and concludes the piece on a happy note. It left me with a feeling of satisfaction and glee. At the beginning of the record there is lyrical frustration with “I will always find a way, yes there is a way without you…” to the final claim, “I could never be alive/the same/etc without you.” I think we all need someone whether it’s a best friend or some sort of being who is fortunate enough to transcend everything on earth, and so this attractive song has been on repeat for a while now.

MP3
I Will Always Find a Way
Believe

Website
Suffering & THT website
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