Minutes, Miles, Troubels, and Trials is a 35-minute, in-your-face, set of blistering rock music. You’ll probably find yourself breathless at the end of the triumphant final track, “Low Down and Busted.” Singer Jared Griffin sounds like he’s got a jackhammer for a mouth,
though his backing band is able to match him blow for blow when it comes
to intensity.
The album is more of a “grower” than a “shower” (if you’ll forgive me for using that phrase.) The first four songs are perfectly competent thrash Americana (yes, I just made that up.) But there are other places to get polite, shit-kicking music that’s so popular with us kids these days. Minutes picks up with “Lookout Tacoma,” a ballad of loss and homecoming. It’s the first slow (well, slow for these guys) song on the album. It’s a gentle vise, but soon you’ll find that Sioux City Kid just won’t let you go.
You can download a free sampler from Noisetrade. As of this writing, I haven’t found a preorder link for the album, which will be release on September 24th.