For the Mathematics

Following up their strong debut EP, the New Science, Ottawa’s For the Mathematics deliver a second barrage of frantic math punk, sounding heavily inspired by At the Drive-In and now defunct fellow Canadians From Fiction, though with more attempts at melody. Kicking off with "This Transient,” FTM are in peak form, the track brimming with tightly woven guitar interplay and intricate drum and bass patterns charging beneath fragments of melody and convincingly emoted shouts. "A Versus” continues in a vein so similar to the opener it threatens early homogenisation but manages to establish a squawky mid-tempo groove. By the third track’s verse though, the sameness grows more concerning and some oddly unpleasant vocal choices emerge, Robb Barnes’ strangled shriek marring an enjoyable blast of punk rock that finds its stride in its epic U2-fed and Rhodes speckled bridges. The trend of vocal overreaching continues, as the band turn from mining the legacy of At the Drive-In to incorporating more of the echo-drenched psychedelic bombast of the Mars Volta. However, FTM are careful not to indulge in bloated song sizing or incessant noodling, opting to condense their progressive urges into tight punk packets full of enough pop sugar to help the musical medicine go down. This brand of passionate boundary pushing, in what is still at its core components pop and punk, could act as an antidote to many of the current safe players topping the genres.