ALBUM REVIEW: Marriage + Cancer - "Marriage + Cancer"

By: Charlie Butler

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 09/02/2018

Label:  Self Sabotage Records

Jagged shards of searing guitar coupled with pleasantly deranged vocals, makes for an album full of obnoxious noise and simmering potential.

“Marriage + Cancer” DD//LP track listing:

01. Command + Comply

02. God is Tan

03. Honor, On Our Knees

04. Headache

05. Six Feet + a Box

06. Flora + Fauna

07. Gound

08. Thirteen Stairs

09. View From a Cross

The Review:

Right from the opening seconds of Marriage + Cancer’s debut LP it seems that the band are no strangers to the Jesus Lizard’s back catalogue. While the Portland quartet may not be breaking any musical boundaries their distinct take on the noise rock giants of the past is a compelling racket.

“Command And Comply” begins with the bands rock-solid rhythm section laying down the kind of insistent rumble that invites carnage to follow. Jagged shards of searing guitar soon join the fray along with pleasantly deranged vocals riddled with an off-kilter queasiness. Marriage + Cancer’s sound is classic noise rock infused with the breathless post-hardcore of Drive Like Jehu but delivered in a sludgy, nasty style all of their own. “Headache” finds the band at their heaviest and most pummelling while “Gound” is like a twisted fusion of Hot Snakes and Sonic Youth.

The highlight of the album comes when Marriage + Cancer move away from driving punk rock territory and explore slower tempos. “God Is Tan” begins as a sickly, drunken lurch that steadily builds in spite and intensity into a furious cacophony of serrated guitar squall. The second half of album closer “View from a Cross”also benefits from a similar shift in volume and dynamics when it drops down to taut, spacious chords before launching into a raging climax. These passages of brooding menace heighten the impact of the glorious mayhem that surrounds them and it would be interesting to see the band develop this aspect of their sound on future releases.

Marriage + Cancer’s self-titled debut captures the raw power of a band in its formative stages, full of obnoxious noise and simmering potential.  

“Marriage + Cancer” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook