{"id":27146,"date":"2025-09-12T09:00:24","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T16:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/?p=27146"},"modified":"2025-10-07T14:49:55","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T21:49:55","slug":"new-music-revue-aversions-deliver-upper-tier-post-punk-with-empty-century","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2025\/09\/12\/new-music-revue-aversions-deliver-upper-tier-post-punk-with-empty-century\/","title":{"rendered":"New Music Revue<\/em>: Aversions deliver upper-tier post-punk with Empty Century<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Aversions
\nEmpty Century
\n<\/i>(Independent)
\n4\/5<\/p>\n

Vancouver\u2019s Aversions have found themselves in a very particular niche on third album Empty Century<\/i>, which follows up 2023\u2019s excellently titled You Wanted the Bike<\/i>. 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2014all shiny and reverby and wavy\u2014also adds to the wonderful melancholy. \u201cBase Case\u201d then picks up the tempo a bit and it\u2019s 1991 and we\u2019re 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\u2019s sometimes perplexing which is why it\u2019s so wonderful: Aversions tap into that here.<\/p>\n

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 (\u201cAfraid of My Own\u201d 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. \u201cThe Cockroach\u201d gets low and slow and not so much heavy in sonics as it is in oppressive mood, but it\u2019s \u201cDivision Theory\u201d and \u201cWater Discipline\u201d\u2019s moroseness that is the most moving.<\/p>\n

Occasionally, the vocals flatten (see the otherwise great closer \u201cNot From Around\u201d 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\u2019s no huge surprise or, really, complaint. No right proper post-punk wants to think about a future of\u2014shudder\u2014brightness, but with Empty Century<\/i>, Aversions have certainly solidified that great things are ahead for them. And, correct me if I\u2019m wrong, but that\u2019s hope I hear in the ending of \u201cNot From Around,\u201d which is a suitable left-turn closing to this great album.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aversions Empty Century (Independent) 4\/5 Vancouver\u2019s Aversions have found themselves in a very particular niche on third album Empty Century, which follows up 2023\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27148,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,337],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-september-2-2025"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t