At Action Park

Released

If the abrasive noise-punk trio Big Black was the band that put Steve Albini on the map, Shellac — formed in 1992 after the dissolution of the short-lived Rapeman — marked the renowned engineer’s greatest accomplishment as a performing musician. The trio of Albini, bassist and sometime vocalist Bob Weston, and drummer Todd Trainer had their sound dialed in right from the start, as reflected on a series of early singles, so their debut LP, At Action Park, documented a confident and fully coherent vision: a brand of post-hardcore rock that was as snarky as it was thunderous. One of the great pleasures of the era was hearing the band lock into a huge, stomping groove as Albini snarled out some wry, insular narrative, as he did on standouts here like “My Black Ass” and “Il Porno Star.” And, much like just about every other Albini-recorded album from the era, At Action Park sounds immaculate — stark and punishing yet pulsing with life.

Hank Shteamer