Shipping News
One Less Heartless to Fear - Karate Body/Noise Pollution
FILTER Grade: 83%

Fueled by the same Louisville outsider spirit that made Slint a post-rock pioneer in the ’90s, Shipping News has pounded out an arsenal of arresting sonics since its 1996 debut Save Everything. But few of its releases have stomped as aggressively as this fiery new effort, the band’s first since 2005’s atmospheric Flies the Fields. Churning burners like “7s” and “Antebellum” demonstrate guitarists and vocalists Jason Noble and Jeff Mueller’s gift for snarling satire and jagged axe work, as well as drummer Kyle Crabtree and bassist Todd Cook’s skin-tight grooves. Only the hypnotic “Half a House” turns down the volume for a respite, and not for long, before righteously shredding like the rest of the album. Shipping News may have taken years off, but it seems determined to make up for it in sheer, rewarding noise.