Harsh and unrelenting, an aggressive drum beat opens the first track on Viet Cong’s self-titled debut album. The song “Newspaper Spoons” sounds more like a battle cry than a welcome to the band’s music, yet its intensity does not allow the track to become cookie-cutter metal or pop-punk. Two minutes into the song, which clocks in at three minutes 21 seconds,layers of tinkling keyboard melodies come in and add an extra dimension to the piece. While the grinding gritty rock feel is established, so too is the assertion that the members of Viet Cong know exactly what they're doing. They are, in three minutes and twenty-one seconds, established as rebels in an already rebellious sub-genre of music.
The four-man Calgary outfit is comprised of Matt Flegel, Mike Wallace (both ex-bandmembers of the Canadian band Women), Scott Munro and Daniel Christiansen. They may be new – formed only just in 2012 – but their style is informed by decades of remarkable music from myriad genres. Recording the album in a renovated barn in rural Ontario, the band seems to draw on influences from both outside and within, displaying a remarkable versatility in musicality and expression. Sliding from snarling metal to glam rock to pop punk in the span of a track takes skill. Viet Cong is up for the challenge.
“Pointless Experience,” the album’s second track, is anything but pointless. With a cocky snark reminiscent of Johnny Ramone, lead singer of Viet Cong Matt Flegel asserts, “If we’re lucky, we’ll get old and die.” Markers of punk are heavily woven into the band’s work here with electric guitars.
“March of Progress” continues to reach out to explore further reaches of the band’s musical diversity. Hints of electronic peek out from behind the heavy veils of punk, with synth coming in to layer the track and a strong syncopated drum rounding out the sound. The true marker of the track, however, is its complete shift from electronic-punk to psychadelic rock at 2:50, when Flegel's voice sparkles against the backdrop of a mandolin and conjures images of a reincarnated George Harrison. The song’s tempo slows down significantly, and back-up vocals singing “ooh” feel dreamy and transcendant. And then, at 4:35, the track switches genres again, with glam rock synth and laser sound effects. The tempo increases and the entire song culminates in a fusion of '60s Beatles and ‘70s Bowie sounds. It would be chaotic if it wasn’t so perfectly orchestrated. In fact, the transitions not only feel smooth, but also necessary.
The album continues in the vein of the Sex-Pistols-meet-Green-Day with its 21st century spin on a new wave of punk. Power chords drive “Bunker Buster” and “Continental Shelf,” two tracks whose blatant “fight the power” ambience is both biting and familiar. It is in these tracks that the album lags momentarily, falling into a classic punk trap of being too wrapped up in angst to vary the songs' rhythm.
Yet, save for this brief repetitive interlude, the album expresses a musical variability that is both impressive and fun. As the songs range from near-screamo to more subdued and mellow psychedelic rock, the album never feels boring or lazy. Viet Cong powers through tracks with calculated pacing; its consistency helps move the album along and center the work in the flurry of genres it encompasses.
The album concludes with “Death,” an almost twee reference to hardcore metal influences and a sardonic wink at Viet Cong’s predecessors. Yet the track is anything but, featuring vamping and a softer-rock melody; Viet Cong again defies expectations. And, while Flegel still has that Ramones vibe, it’s clear that the band is carving out a place for itself in the music world -- one unafraid of genre limitations and preconceptions. With classic punk grit, the band and album fearlessly succeed.
