Sunset At the End of the Industrial Age

Stepping back from the sprawling multifaceted concept album Wohaw to a much more concise recapitulation of the USA Is a Monster's early sound, Sunset at the End of the Industrial Age takes this New York duo perhaps a bit too far back to its {no wave} roots. Aside from the 13-minute epic title track and the eight-minute freakout closer, The Spirit of Revenge, the songs are relatively short bursts of guitar-drum cacophony, several under two minutes. As always, multi-instrumentalists Colin Matthews (mostly guitars) and Tom Hohmann (mostly drums) scratch and bash at their oddly tuned instruments in a fashion that's probably not as utterly random as it seems, while the pair take turns yelping in the manner of early Arto Lindsay or Big Black-era Steve Albini. However, after the comparatively expansive and partially acoustic Wohaw, Sunset at the End of the Industrial Age sounds like a retread of previously explored noise rock terrain. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide