Herzog has quietly been building a devoted following with their relentless take on guitar-driven power-pop. Comparisons to 90’s luminaries such as Built to Spill, Sebadoh, and Dinosaur Jr., abound and are apt and warranted but similarities with present days bands like Diarrhea Planet, Thee Oh Sees and FIDLAR are equally appropriate. Boys is the new album by Cleveland’s Herzog on Exit Stencil Recordings and is by far, their most ambitious cohesive, and sonically diverse album to date. To record the album, the band sequestered themselves in Upstate New York confines of Marcata Recording and worked with acclaimed producer Kevin S. McMahon (The Walkmen, Titus Andronicus) and the results are spectacular. Thematically, Boys examines the inherent contradictions and ironies of being a working / struggling musician, what exactly keeps one motivated while apparently on a treadmill. Boys is a catchy as it is diverse, inventive a it is informed, melodic as it is sonic, and enjoyable as it is enrapturing.
TRACK LISTING
1. Full Sick
2. Henchmen
3. Mad Men
4. Bicycle Girl
5. Saint Scrapyard
6. It’s Hard Getting Old
7. Boys Part 1
8. Theme For Boys
9. Oh No
10. Teenage Metalhead
11. Satan Is Real
12. You Are Not The Villain
13. Boys Part 2