In the time between Monogamy Party’s debut EP, Pus City, and this, their first full length, these noise rock weirdos from Seattle decided that the craziest thing they could do was add a guitarist. On the surface, they now look like your standard rock band — but in reality they’ve just become weirder and more abrasive in the best possible way, as having a guitarist serves to add more viciousness to their original bass, drums, and vocals setup.

This full-length is a worthy follow up to their debut barrage. If anything, the band has learned to play with tempos, adding some biting, mid-paced, almost dance-able parts to their full on reckless abandon. There is still plenty of recklessness here, but they’ve grown as songwriters. Just don’t mistake this asset for some boring type of “maturity” that plagues many good bands — they are still plenty bratty, angry, and messed up.

“Blank Stare” offers one of the first traces of this more danceable groove to go with the added guitar carnage and lead singer Kennedy’s poisoned yowls. “Crimes” and “Ordinary Things” go further down this rabbit-hole, while “Ashamed” is a mixture of these new rhythms and some fast, angry hardcore. It goes from jazzy to spazzy at the drop of a hat. “Walls” starts off as a doomy trawl that builds to a shit-fit, while “Blood” and “Terrible Mistake” up the noise, tempo and psychosis. Closer “Cold Machine” works the quiet/crazy and noisy dynamic to great effect.

With this album, Monogamy Party has morphed into one of the strangest noise rock bands out there. Their full on approach may be too much for some people, but for those who love it loud and twisted, this will be like manna from hell. Don’t miss out.

(Good To Die Records, PO Box 70251, Seattle, WA 98127)