Album Review: Clowns “Endless”
review by Ricky Frankel
Release: Endless
Band: Clowns
Label: Fat Wreck Chords/Damaged Record Co.
Score: 8/10
Four years after the release of their Fat Wreck Chords debut, ‘Nature/Nurture,’ Clowns have finally graced the punk scene with their latest effort, ‘Endless.’ In between the release of the two albums though, the band put out the ‘Does It Matter?/Sarah’ 7-inch, which at the time may have given fans a clue as to where they were going to take their sound post-‘Nature/Nurture.’ While the 2019 full-length was quite dark both lyrically and sonically, the two songs on that 7-inch were brighter, yet they still had the same aggression that fans love. Now that ‘Endless’ has finally arrived it’s fair to look back and confirm that the ‘Does It Matter?/Sarah’ 7-inch was indeed a signal that Clowns were going to take their sound in a lighter direction. But by “lighter” and “brighter,” does that mean their signature, metal-influenced aggression in their music is less than what is was in 2019? The answer to that riddle is a hard, “no, not in the slightest.”
To begin, the band starts with the title track; a short, instrumental introduction that really sets the tone for what’s to come very well. The soft piano gets overtaken by big, metal-esque guitars that show that the band is taken a new direction and they aren’t shy about it. The new, lighter and brighter sound is really exemplified by tracks like a revamped version of “Sarah” from the band’s previous EP, which features added backing vocals and a much more bombastic outro with a ton more screaming. Interestingly, for the track “Thanks 4 Nothing” lead singer Stevie Williams takes on backing vocals, while bassist Hanny J takes lead. This is a first for the band. The echo-y intro is reminiscent of their more experimental album, ‘Lucid Again,’ but the song turns into this absolute jam where Stevie Williams’s harsher singing and Hanny J’s more melodic singing converge at the chorus for one hell of an anthem. One of the later tracks, “Quicksand” features an acoustic guitar intro that morphs into this metal-influenced, instrumental balled. Then “Quicksand” really gets going, by morphing once again, taking on more of a thrash sound that has Williams’s stellar, higher pitched singing. The sliding, distorted guitar riffs in the background against the massive drums come together to make this track one of the catchiest on the LP.
But it isn’t all shiny-ness on ‘Endless.’ There are a solid amount of heavier tracks on this record like “Death Wish” and “Bisexual Awakening.” “Death Wish” features huge dive bombs from the lead guitar and much more of a death metal sound overall. The guitars are very crunchy and fuzzy. Williams’s vocals are extremely aggressive and throat-y, until suddenly he is singing in a falsetto tone over nothing but a xylophone. Then band jumps back in and the song manages to get even more dark with a huge breakdown that contains some of Williams’s most impressive death metal vocals. His vocal range on this whole album is pretty stunning.“Z3r0s&0n3s” is a very frantic track. Once again, William’s and Hanny J’s vocals come together to really shine here. It’s also one of there more experimental tunes where the outro is Williams’ vocals slowly sounding more and more robotic until they sound like something out of Star Wars. It’s a really cool addition that adds a lot to the theme of the song.
The last track “A Widow’s Son” is where ‘Endless’ falls a little short. Clowns are no strangers to recording experimental instrumental tracks. If you’re a long-time fan, you know that they end their 2015 album, ‘Bad Blood’ with the ten minute long “Human Terror.” With “A Widow’s Son” the band really swing for the fences. Musically, it is a cacophonous (at times) and haunting tune. The catch is that itfeatures a narration by the anonymous host of the true crime podcast, ‘Castile.’ And while you can appreciate this creative take on an instrumental track, unfortunately its replay value is a bit low after a second listen through the whole album.
In a really fascinating way ‘Endless’ is kind of the polar opposite of ‘Nature/Nurture,’ but the album still fits into the band’s discography perfectly. Clowns took a big risk by turning their sound around in a noticeably lighter direction on this record, which includes a lot of daring experimentation in there as well. The end result is an album that, while not perfect, indisputably shreds. It’s easily one of the best LP’s released in the second half of 2023.
***
About the Author
Denise Borders 39, Los Angeles. Denise founded PWV in 2008 and remains the primary manager and photographer/videographer. She is not secretly obsessed with Joey Cape.
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