USSA’s debut The Spoils will never sound the way many want it to, meaning it sounds nothing like the previous work of former Jesus Lizard guitarist Duane Denison or former Ministry bassist Paul Barker. That’s fine; neither Denison nor Barker, each of whom is in USSA, is trying to recreate the past.
If anything, The Spoils sounds like second-rate Killing Joke. There’s also a soupcon of Trent Reznor or the singer from Papa Roach, thanks to USSA singer Gary Call. On paper, that sounds a lot worse than the reality.
Fans of Denison and Barker’s prior groups are likely to mentally graft onto The Spoils what they would like to hear — something that would imply a more tasteful affair. Some will try to hear Ministry’s synthetic adrenaline rush in “Dead Voices,” or The Jesus Lizard’s creepy arpeggios in “Peculiar Thing,” but no such parallels exist. The Spoils has a lot working against it, including the radio-slick studio-centrism of the first few songs. Luckily, several factors work to redeem it:
1) This is an album straight out of the English post-punk tradition, and a pretty faithful replica at that.
2) Though in no way distinctive, it’s a downright listenable record — sometimes even memorable.
3) Drummer Johnny Rabb is all right.
4) The slower, latter half of the album is effectively creepy in the way post-punk kings Wire were on their 154 album.
5) The whole damn thing sounds like the soundtrack to a modern post-punker or metal kid’s Red Bull binge and the resulting insulin crash. That’s actually pretty cool.
– Mike McGovern
U.S.S.A.: ussa.fuzz.com
Fuzz Artists: www.fuzz.com