Spitting Image – Full Sun LP (Slovenly Recordings)

A neat package from Slovenly Recordings arrived last Friday at our headquarters, so now it’s more than appropriate time to delve deep into the powerful sounds of Spitting Image. For those who might not know, Spitting Image is a Reno-based punk rock quartet that lurks the underground scene for over a decade. Over the years, they published many excellent recordings, such as Valley Floor 7″ EP, a digital split release with The Indoors, Love On A Terror 7″ EP, Live At Recycled Records, Icon Alive cassette EP, and This Not This tour tape. As you can see, the band keeps its activities as much as possible, and all these recordings sound divine, but it seems that nothing matches the power of Full Sun, their debut record released by Slovenly Recordings about a month ago.

Full Sun is not another typical punk rock album. You will notice that detail as soon as you put a needle on this vinyl record. Spitting Image combine several subgenres to depict bright sonic imagery that probably comes the closest to post-punk sound. Besides the fundamentals of post-punk, you’ll notice how these folks embrace heaviness and aesthetics of noise-rock, but they don’t stray from the indie path either. Of course, there are some classic punk rock dynamics, art-punk virtuosities, and even some similarities with something garage rock, deathrock, or psych-punk would eventually implement onto their releases. All these beforementioned sonic ingredients are solely responsible why Full Sun sound so fresh, diverse, luxurious, and unique from scratch to finish. Some readers might think it’s way too many styles involved on a singular album, but Spitting Image unquestionably know what they’re doing because each composition perfectly fits in this sonic equation. You’ll also notice that these guys don’t lose balance and consistency. Quite the contrary, each upcoming song comes as a logical extension of a previous one.

You’ll solely enjoy everything Spitting Image put in their tracks. There’s no way you will escape all those high-pitched chord progressions, heavily distorted riffs, various arpeggios, themes, leads, melodies, and harmonies. The guitars continuously duel for dominance throughout the entire album, and those collisions between leads and riffs shape the ambiance while the equally complex low-end tones lurk beneath them. The sound engineer/producer thought about the bass guitar, so you’ll hear this instrument from scratch to finish. Of course, nothing would sound so energetic without profoundly dynamic rhythmic sequences built upon well-accentuated beats, breaks, drum fills, and other percussive acrobatics. Still, the lead vocal harmonies, back vocals, and occasional singalongs are the centerpiece of this album, and without these singing parts, Full Sun wouldn’t resonate the same. Spitting Image released a powerful debut full-length that serves as a crown of their decade-long activities, and you should grab this LP as soon as possible if you’re into punk rock, post-punk, or noise rock music. Full Sun is available on opaque vinyl (limited to 100 copies) and standard black vinyl, cassette, and steaming platforms. However, I recommend a vinyl record because it bursts with unmatchable, sheer power. Head to Slovenly Recordings for more information about ordering.