Would you believe this came out in the same month (July '84), on the same label (SST) as Double Nickels on the Dime? That's 4 discs worth of punk rock epics in the span of 30 days!
This is similar in ways: a sprawling, punishing exploration of the deeper crannies of what punk can be, lashing out in every direction at once. But while Double Nickel's exploration was an econo cartography of song structure within a particular drums-guitar-bass landscape, Zen Arcade thrashes harder, tentacles reaching further, droping in ambient buzz, pianos, and pretty vocal harmonies, ending up further out in the reaches on pretty much every dimension, with moments that are noisier, as well some that are prettier, than anything Minutemen did.
Lovers of Fucked Up's heady collision of pretty and abrasive will find a lot to love here: its a demanding, exhausting album that plows over itself so thoroughly that few tracks stand out, it's just a single monolithic wall of (post?) punk energy, inspiring awe without being particularly inviting. An achievement. A tough listen. 3.5/5
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