Over a year since their debut record, Don’t Test The Pest, PEST CONTROL are back with a new EP: Year Of The Pest. Take the title literally because the ten minutes of listening is likely a prelude to what’s to come from the thrash quintet. It may be only ten minutes, but that’s ten minutes of brutally pummelling hardcore and electrifying guitar solos.
Title track Year Of The Pest opens up with doom inducing riffs and a chugging bass line, thus opening the gates of the pest before accelerating with no sign of slowing down. Vocalist Leah Massey’s vocals are as raspy and coarse as ever, combined with the sixth gear pace and red hot solo of Joseph Kerry.
Time Bomb is full of anxiety, the feeling of being chased by a sizzling fuse on the way to the blast zone, it’s fun and the perfect concept to match PEST CONTROL’s high tempo approach to the EP. P.M.C. finds the five-piece in their most cohesive form, and shows that they know how to write to their thematic strengths as well as anyone, if not better. Not only that, but the idea of being taken over by a hive mind parasyte and finding this level of unison is near perfect.
Bands that pride themselves on being overtly political and present those conversations often find it way too easy to double down into on the nose lyricism to send a message, and where it works for some, for others it doesn’t. So, PEST CONTROL avoid that completely and writes the themes into their own identity. P.M.C. being an inescapable loss of control that we all face under austerity, falling perfectly into place, and Good Grief’s combination of end-time lyricism and rupturing bass lines make for an ending that leaves you with nothing but ruination.
PEST CONTROL have been on people’s ones-to-watch radars ever since their debut record dropped in February 2023, and if they weren’t already, once Year Of The Pest is finished with you, they will be. The combination of invigorating razor sharp instrumentation, untethered vocal performance from Massey, and the heightened level that the band as whole are operating on now takes advantage of the noise that they made during this past festival season. Leaning into their influences more than ever, listeners receive the most authentic and rich version of PEST CONTROL yet.
Rating: 9/10
Year Of The Pest is out now via Quality Control Records/Triple B Records.
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