Raleigh's RIBS make rock that keeps tugging the floor out from under itself. COLD RIBS runs through 11 tracks of crooked riffs, hard stops and rhythms that can hit like a fist before suddenly backing away. Mike Wallace delivers the words with a dry, needling speak-sing, sometimes doubled and thrown between the speakers, while Finn Cohen's guitar moves from blunt hooks to sharp, abrasive stabs. David Mueller and Josh Germeroth know when to lock into a heavy groove and when to leave a gap hanging open. “Decomp In The Field” suggests The Fall and Faust, “High Fives Of The Four Horsemen” turns Fugazi's attack into something stranger, and “Cold Daylight” gives the Stones' swagger a less comfortable subject.
The band has been active since 2007, drawing on Raleigh's long-running independent rock scene, with Wallace, Cohen, Mueller and Germeroth bringing experience from other North Carolina groups. Missy Thangs co-produced the album and mixed it at Square Tire Studios in Raleigh, after Nick Peterson recorded the main sessions at the Fidelitorium in Kernersville. The result is abrasive but carefully shaped, with the drums and bass kept solid enough to make the odd turns count. People after tidy post-punk songs may find it prickly. Anyone drawn to The Fall, This Heat, Faust or wiry, argumentative guitar music should have plenty to get stuck into, especially on “Strange Victories” and the closing “Working In Shoes.”
