Album review: Static Dress – Injury Episode

Static Dress are a proudly anti-algorithmic band. They don’t churn out TikToks; they tell stories and build worlds, every twinkling detail seemingly pored over for hours. That world’s been expanded into a comic book, video games and more recently a short film, but none of this legwork can hold itself up without being underpinned by great songs.

How lucky it is, then, that the Leeds quartet have blossomed so magnificently from 2022 debut Rouge Carpet Disaster to now. They’ve sharpened their quills and crafted songs with deep nuance and ambition, following the narrative of a pair of famous twins who are hounded by the paparazzi to their deaths but never allowed to rest.

No two songs draw from the same place, yet the hit rate is astronomical. There’s something moreish about these songs. Like a box of doughnuts, it’s impossible to enjoy just one without devouring the whole thing.

After opener lose the rain ties together albums one and two, first song proper questioning is a powder keg of hardcore scuzz that goes bone deep, while the pulse-raising follow-up Pharmacy Film’s snaking rhythms and scintillating melodies feel incredibly fresh. The itch to mosh gets satisfied with the sandblasting riffs of Malebomb and the thunderous Underoath collaboration Nostalgia Kills, while Classic.Death.Pose is kryptonite for the two-steppers. Later, lip critic is a hyper-energetic fist-bump between the heavier and catchier sides of Static Dress with delicious hooks and a skittish beat.

Between these are moments of breathtaking emotion, such as when Adapter somehow pulls off a dramatic key change that could have easily been cheesy or forced in the wrong hands. It helps that Olli Appleyard has grown massively as a vocalist in the last few years, his voice stronger, clearer, shifting between tones he hadn’t used before, like with the way he sings a line like, ‘No one knows you here, but me,’ on Adult Diamond with a gentleness that feels new for him. The real piece de resistance here however, is Dull Blade Disguise, a devastatingly cinematic song with a jaw-dropping payoff towards the end that might just be this band’s defining moment.

This is music made not to be just heard but felt. It’s unvarnished, conceptual, bleeding emotion from every vein. Surely, this has to be a cult classic in waiting.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Loathe, Underoath, At The Drive-In

Injury Episode is released on May 29 via Sumerian.