Veterans of Disorder

Released

After 1998’s streamlined Accelerator, Veterans Of Disorder returns to the mess and murk that makes Royal Trux so damn compelling. Listening to Veterans feels like flipping the AM and FM radio dials, impatiently, taking the temperature of the airwaves, from the glam thud of “Waterpark”, to Hagerty’s Lennon-esque “Stop”, on into the polyrhythmic stomps of “Lunch Money” and “¡Yo Se!”. The album’s flipside returns to the positive confusion of Twin Infinitives, with the abstract cut-up of “Sickazz Dog”, before Herrema’s wild ramble through “Coming Out Party” segues into “Blue Is The Frequency”, an eight-minute fantasia for Hagerty’s guitar, his playing at its most fluid and elevated, dipping into microtones as the music locks into an eternal groove. It’s a rock record, but like few others.

Jon Dale

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