No Quarter - Fear & Loathing on the Pacific Highway review

 

 

 

Band: No Quarter

Album: Fear & Loathing on the Pacific Highway

Release date: April 22, 2022

Format: CD, digital, LP 

Reviewed by: punk_reviews 

 

While the vast majority of skate-punk’s would-be mavens have zigged toward heavily-squashed and sampled production, Australia’s No Quarter has zagged back toward a more organic, ‘90s-influenced sound. On the band’s new album, Fear & Loathing on the Pacific Highway, No Quarter sticks with its roots. 

This band wears its influences on its sleeves with pride and aplomb. Are you a fan of ‘90s-era Strung Out or Propagandhi? Maybe a little Pulley and Pennywise? No Quarter has you covered. 

 I don’t mean to say that No Quarter is derivative of those bands, or shamelessly rips them off. Quite the contrary. No Quarter’s new record blazes a new path all its own but it doesn’t take long for the band’s influences to come to the surface; for the careful listener, 

The band spent nearly four years meticulously recording and producing Fear & Loathing on the Pacific Highway. The tender loving care is evident in how clean the production is. 

For a self-recorded and self-produced record, I’m not sure the sound quality could get any better. That is, unless you crave the ubiquitous compression and sampled-into-oblivion sounds of new-school snake-punk, hardcore, and metal, too, frankly. 

No Quarter’s new record features 13 blazing tracks with a flag firmly stabbed into the earth as a bastion to defend skate-punk. Bands like this are keeping this sound alive and I, for one, am grateful for that. 

As for the music, No Quarter’s songwriting took a big step forward since their last record Freedom, and I really dug that album. The songs might still at times trod on adolescent topics like jerking off, unrequited love, and the like. But the majority of this record speaks to heavier, more mature topics like the loss of a friend/loved one, tyranny brought down on the heads of Western countries as a result of the pandemic, social media addiction, cracks in society, and inter-personal relationships. 

 Drummer, and riff-lord extraordinaire Micka Martin contributed a mighty performance to this record. The drums are clean, tight, and articulate, and some of his double-time beats feature a kick pattern I’ve literally never heard before. And this reviewer knows skate-punk. 

 Chris, the vocalist, sits right on top of the mix with solid melody and a signature flourish all his own. The vocal production on this album is quite polished, and again, meticulous. 

The guitars on this record sound so GOOD. It brings me right back to the good old days when Epi-Fat albums would have a signature sound, regardless of the band, because the sonic fingerprints of the studio/engineer/producer were apparent. No Quarter’s guitar sound is organic and quite powerful and sounds like something that was recorded at Westbeach Recorders, Motor Studios, or the Blasting Room circa 1996. 

 The bass keeps things solid, rounding out the band’s sound. My favorite tracks on No Quarter’s latest effort include For You Are a Witch, and Witches Shall Burn, Empty Apologies, I’ll Have one Ticket to the Revolution, Now Pass Me My Brick, and the record’s magnum opus, and latest single, Long Distance. The whoa whoas on Long Distance will quickly get stuck in your head and leave you wanting more. 

 All in, No Quarter’s new record is a great leap forward for the band, especially as songwriters and dedicated priests of the studio. This humble pilgrim genuflects in gratitude and respect for producing a really, really good skate-punk album