Aversions
Empty Century
(Independent)
4/5
Vancouver’s Aversions have found themselves in a very particular niche on third album Empty Century, which follows up 2023’s excellently titled You Wanted the Bike. The band are firmly in the post-punk world but have found a slightly more aggressive approach, and the end result is mainly fantastic here.
The title track opens the eight-track release with a captivating mixture of classic post-punk and shimmering early goth; the atmosphere and vibe do the heavy lifting, but the guitar work—all shiny and reverby and wavy—also adds to the wonderful melancholy. “Base Case” then picks up the tempo a bit and it’s 1991 and we’re discovering exciting, underground, moody music on late-night MuchMusic, and sometimes you have to fight to hold on the shards of ice in the sounds and sometimes the sadness is happy and it’s sometimes perplexing which is why it’s so wonderful: Aversions tap into that here.
And on it goes, with the off-beat rhythms at times approaching the best of early Faith No More and the vocal approach a nod to the wry and wiry sonic ramblings of an Iggy Pop or Nick Cave (“Afraid of My Own” feels more back-of-the-bus rant than song), but over music that would feel more at home in a venue with a basketball hoop and horrendous sound quality. “The Cockroach” gets low and slow and not so much heavy in sonics as it is in oppressive mood, but it’s “Division Theory” and “Water Discipline”’s moroseness that is the most moving.
Occasionally, the vocals flatten (see the otherwise great closer “Not From Around” for glimpses of this), but, again, reference early Faith No More and, well, lots of post-punk in general for that. It sort of comes with the territory, so it’s no huge surprise or, really, complaint. No right proper post-punk wants to think about a future of—shudder—brightness, but with Empty Century, Aversions have certainly solidified that great things are ahead for them. And, correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s hope I hear in the ending of “Not From Around,” which is a suitable left-turn closing to this great album.