Shakespeare’s bloodiest, most aggressive work is a play called Titus Andronicus. It is about a Roman general swept up in a cruel cycle of retribution with the Queen of the Goths, Tamora. Shakespeare’s work is often considered a piece of exploitation or sensationalism by some scholars, with revenge as the prime motivation and brutality as a key theme. While this may be a simplistic reading of Titus Andronicus, the notions of chaos and violence from it have certainly proven to be popular among many other works of art.
New Jersey five-piece Titus Andronicus not only shares a name with Shakespeare’s play but also shares the frenetic and violent energy of the production. Led by vocalist and guitarist Patrick Stickles, the band is based out of Glen Park and plays with the reckless abandon felt in early punk rock history. With Ian Graetzer on bass, Andrew Cedermark on guitar, Ian O’Neil on guitar and Eric Harm on drums, the band rounds out to a fine collective of madmen.
The Airing of Grievances, perhaps as fitting a title for a debut possible for these hooligans, is a nine track tempest of deformation, uproar, conceit, noise, and ache. There is a sense of transparency here that is so often lacking in modern bands. It is as though Stickles and Co. have conjured up the spirit of punk rock and welded it together with nails and elements of low-fi to craft a murky, cluttered structure.
The production of The Airing of Grievances has a certain squalid quality, almost as though you’re catching Titus Andronicus through the clamour of a teeming bong-filled college bash or trying to steal a look through the dusted windows of a back alley dive to figure out just who in the hell is rocking so hard.
With the energy of high schoolers trying speed for the first time, The Airing of Grievances bursts into existence with a bulge of garish posturing and just the right amount of muck. In the wrong hands, such a combination would be magnificently bothersome. But in the hands of these five musical vagabonds, the approach is downright masterful.
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