Bison B.C.

With third record Lovelessness, Vancouver, BC's Bison B.C. have released their most punk influenced and devastatingly emotional album to date. Vocalist James Farwell's already twisted and battle-scarred vocals have taken on the extra weight of genuine, whiskey-soaked anguish. The riffs are thick, coated with snot and grime, as though the strings themselves had wept very messily so often they've accumulated a thick, crusty film of unhappiness. The tracks themselves are all monolithic, vast and roiling slabs of volcanic misery that constantly threaten to crack and spew magma. The core of the album is formed by the three longest tracks: "Anxiety Puke/Lovelessness," "Last and First Things" and "Blood Music," which also form the spine of the record's narrative. It's not so much a direct exploration of lost love so much as it dwells on the specific texture of loss, the exact shape of the void and the loneliness that's been left, and the crushing disappointment that gradually resolves into towering rage. Lovelessness is an ugly, abject work that challenges the listener to accept both unhappiness and disgust, conveyed with power, intelligence and artfulness. Rarely is a painting with one's entrails executed so finely.