The United Sons of Toil

The United Sons of Toil play noisy, Midwestern, angular math rock that lyrically explores areas of futility, imperialism and genocide. By description, that sounds somewhat stressful; this record is intense but remains purposeful and appropriate for their aggressive post-punk style. The songs are driving and anxious, with harsh melodies and noisy splashes of feedback interspersed between technical start-stops. Guitarist/vocalist Russell Hall coerces his lone instrument into sounding like four or five distorted beacons, while the rhythm section of Bill Borowski (bass/vocals) and Chad Burnett (drums) keep things moving amidst the chaos. If you were to dig through the record collection of the United Sons of Toil it would probably feature Jawbox and Fugazi prominently, with some representation from Big Black, Mclusky and the Kill Rock Stars catalogue. Any fan of post-punk can recognize that those influences make for some pretty killer off-the-beaten-path punk rock, and the Sons strike a fine balance of borrowing from their elders and introducing their own noisy, stressed-out take on math rock conventions.