Name: Lithium Zion
SKU: 767214

There’s an inherent flaw in the perennially alternating “rock is back”and “rock is dead” arguments: they are based on the idea that rockmusic is a logic-based choice a person consciously chooses to make.Contrary to the critics who are looking to suss out cultural trends andmovements, the decision to play loud, distorted, unabashedguitar-rock isn’t a strategic move but a higher calling (or curse,depending on one’s point of view). Some might say the pursuit ofrocking out via deafening amplifiers, crusty drums and abeer-battered PA is a spiritual one, an affliction that either strikes ordoesn’t. Few groups today embody this sentiment like Melbourne’saptly-named .

They’re more likely to ask a fellow musician what they do for their“real” job (for one, guitarist Jensen Tjhung works as a builder) thantalk shop about publicists, ticket counts and online promotions.They’re a grisly rock group and they’ve already signed to Sub Pop,which is to say they’ve already succeeded beyond their wildestdreams, so anything that comes after (performing in strange newcities, meeting like-minded souls, maybe even selling a or two)is a bonus. And if they come to your town, you would be wise to clearyour calendar.

Lithium Zion is their fifth full-length album (and second for Sub Popfollowing 2015’s Pain), and, while it’s a rare case that a group’s fifthalbum is their best, it may in fact be Deaf Wish’s finest. Their previousalbums were recorded in makeshift studios - a wise choice forcapturing the hazardous riffing, chemically-stained vocals and fieryrhythms conjured by a group such as this - but this step toward aslightly more professional sound only enhances their power. Therecord opens with “Easy”, a languid rocker in the rich Australiantradition of groups like X and The Scientists. From there it’s onto“FFS”, a moody downhill rocker sung by guitarist Sarah Hardimanthat confirms Deaf Wish’s relation to fellow Sub Pop employees likefeedtime and Hot Snakes. “The Rat Is Back” is tense and epic;“Hitachi Jackhammer” pays a brief and noisy tribute to Hitachi’ssecond most notable device (you’d be forgiven for assuming this songis about vibrators). Lithium Zion is a veritable buffet of garage-punkenergy, post-punk pathos, sardonic wit and the fearlessness thatcomes with Aussie rock, a natural consequence for anyone living on acontinent teeming with grapefruit-sized spiders and man-eatingmosquito swarms.

As has always been the case, the whole group shares vocal duties,even drummer Daniel Twomey (you know the band is slightlyunhinged if they’re letting the drummer sing). Hardiman and Tjhungare as ragged and hairy as ever, chugging along as though krautrockwas trying to speed past the late ‘70s but got caught in the stickygrasp of punk. Such is the way of Deaf Wish, a group destined to writesongs that are simultaneously stupid and sublime, vulnerable andferocious, and play them with the unbridled intensity they demand.Anyone serving a life sentence to rock will surely concur.