Blood On The Wall: Liferz

At some point, every punk band's need to scream,

bleed, and shit all over itself becomes hopelessly entangled in a desire to eat

real food and get a pat on the head. But Blood On The Wall doesn't worry about

such conundrums on its third full-length, Liferz. The band's sonic blade

of choice is a dull, rusty machete, and its art-contorted hooks are far from

friendly. Like the band's previous output, Liferz summons the serrated,

sloppy indie-rock of early Superchunk and Pavement while maintaining a polite

distance from its inspirations and its audience. There's a forcefield of

deranged cool around the band's jagged, homely pop implosions, although

"Lightning Songs" is a smoldering wreck that finds bassist Courtney Shanks

doing her best Kim Gordon come-on, and "Sorry Sorry Sarah" is almost violently

infectious. But the album's final three tracks—erupting in a vicious,

five-minute flame-bath called "Acid Fight"—leave no doubt that Blood On

The Wall can clean and cook what it kills.