Unwound - The Future Of What (Album Review)

 

Unwound - The Future Of What

(1995)


My copy: 2019 reissue by Numero Group.


Following New Plastic Ideas, Unwound refused to discard their gaining momentum. You can trace the band’s growth across each early release, and while Fake Train’s exploratory nature gave way to shaky production, The Future Of What fully committed to succinct post-hardcore bombardments with a strict focus on tight recording. Sitting almost directly in the middle of their catalog, The Future Of What is their best offering for fans of no-nonsense density and unhinged noise-rock aggression.

The blistering atonal discharge of “New Energy” is everything you need to know about this stage of Unwound’s career - Trosper’s accusatory voice standing as a testament to social unease, Lund’s drums and Rumsey’s bass propelling the agitated guitar to new heights of post-hardcore agitation. “Demolished” and “Natural Disasters” demonstrate an upgraded understanding of melody, toning down the flat brutality and instilling catchy, brooding hooks. Trosper and Rumsey are masters of syncopation, with Lund keeping the percussion just off-center enough to feel fresh. “Re-Enact The Crime” peels back the anger further with harmonic intrigue and calmer vocals, though the choruses are sandwiched between harsh guitar up-strokes. 

The guitar on “Equally Stupid” bends and snaps in an uneven time signature, gasping in between paranoid shouts. Trosper’s playing is also further refined, adding dashes of restrained complexity that show growth. There is little in the way of sound experimentation, but interlude “Pardon My French” warps samples and choppy percussive sounds into an eerily nostalgic pastiche. “Descension” takes time to find its attitude, but topples over with furious peaks. “Accidents On Purpose” toys with the nervous energy of their contemporaries and fully commits, even further as the guitar wheezes and contracts across “Petals Like Bricks.” Rumsey’s bass playing might be some of the best in the entire genre - sitting perfectly in the pocket when necessary, but also mixing in levels of anxious melody, often overshadowing the guitar entirely. 

The ascending melodrama of “Here Come The Dogs” features one of Trosper’s most frantic performances, as bass flickers amidst churning tremolo and feedback. “Disappoint” looks to past tracks like “Hexenzsene” to craft a sprawling maze of patiently evolving guitar and bass, with bitterly anthemic choruses hiding between repetition and mystery. There may not be a point in their discography as nihilistic as the eight minute “Swan,” with perhaps their loudest barrage of guitar terror and maniacal vocals, all crashing through barrier after barrier of feedback and drums. The song quits halfway and is swallowed by a disparate black hole of high frequency whines and feedback, refusing to die for nearly four minutes. 

If you’ve come to The Future Of What expecting a new direction entirely, you may find yourself disappointed. What you will find, however, is a group of well-rounded tracks that fall perfectly into an aesthetic niche - a sort of elegant consistency that feels neither complacent nor overly ambitious. Trosper understands that dissonance is the sound of reality: optimistic or not, the future comes without warning and is ever uncertain. And yet this unrivaled sense of honesty allows Unwound’s vision to rise above. Unwound’s worship of paranoid, haunting chords and riffs allow them to immerse listeners fully into their world - one in which the fears and desires of underappreciated young artists are broadcasted on the main stage at max volume, drowning out their plastic competition.

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