Many of these songs are concerned with the drudgery of existence in that afore-mentioned hyper-capitalist society, especially Very High, on which Shelton offers his solution to his ennui. ‘I’ve been feeling pretty down,’ he intones in his rousing-yet-hypnotic monotone, ‘so I get very high.’
Yet while this album rails against the world our plutocratic/oligarchic overlords have created for the rest of us, it also displays a vulnerability that’s rare in hardcore and post-hardcore. Whether that’s on My Friends Are Having A Hard Time, a song that confronts the helplessness Ian feels when he sees those he cares about suffering, on the resignation (and subsequent defiance) of Will Logic, or the mournful melancholy of penultimate track See You Around, on which Ian both sings/shouts over a plaintive, haunting mellotron, he’s not afraid to be vulnerable. The latter song lasts for just two minutes before that closing title track kicks in with a surge of forceful but still unpredictable power.
It’s a thumping reminder that Militarie Gun are one of the most interesting, vital and original bands in the world of punk today.
Verdict: 4/5
For fans of: Drug Church, Drain, Scowl
Life Under The Gun is out now via Loma Vista