As those names of
Basilica’s founding influences suggest, their music incorporates a range of genre styles, even more so on the new album than on their earlier releases. And their songwriting prowess has also taken a big step forward, as “
Starve” vividly demonstrates.
The song barely escapes the three-minute mark, but
Basilica pack a lot into its concise duration, including one especially surprising sequence. There are riffs galore, from big bone-bruising chugs to blaring chords, from jittery tension-builders to slashing thrashers and vicious seething sensations. Intertwined with all those adrenaline-fueling changes are doses of jaw-breaking groove and spurts of squealing string torture. It’s all anchored by a gut-punching, neck-wrecking drum performance, and given added heat by howling hardcore vocals and belly-deep bellowing. The surprise (which we’re about to spoil) is an otherworldly, mesmerizing guitar instrumental accompanied by a funky bass line and head-movin