Grateful to Shred

VINYL FORMAT. "I probably don't need to mention that White Fang's new record, Grateful to Shred, sounds like shit. That's par for the course, and it's a good thing. The band has spent the entirety of its short career putting itself at a commercial disadvantage - releasing albums on cassette (well before that was in fashion); playing destructive, 15-minute sets at sweaty basement venues (or getting too wasted to play said basement venues). But more interestingly, it has kept a blurred line between the epic, youthful punk-power-ballads that have grabbed Portland fans' interest and the jokey, disjointed weed jams that White Fang just gets a huge kick out of playing. The less-poignant numbers on Grateful to Shred (the jangly, Motown-esque "Can't Find Our Weed" and the Black Flag-style "Fuck Up a Fascist [I'm Down]," for example) sometimes seem like filler, but they're always delivered with a lingering wink and a flash of frontman Erik Gage's mischievous toothy smile." - Casey Jarman