"colder now"
Year: 2023
Country: Canada
City: Calgary
Label: Pirate Press
Format: LP
Tracks: 11
Time: 24 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Punk
It’s been five years since the Calgary punk band Territories last put out a full album, but their evolution as a tighter, more mature band could be heard in the EP, split and singles that were sprinkled out over the past few years.
Their latest, Colder Now, is an extraordinary practice in smart, tight melodic punk rock in the vein of The Clash, Social Distortion and Stiff Little Fingers, not only in sound—mixing solid hooks and sing-along choruses with loud guitars—but in writing thoughtful lyrics about important social issues. The album mixes in larger societal themes—like those posing as experts online and spewing misinformation or the impact on communities when factories close—to much more personal issues and experiences.
The album opens on “Pacific Ghost,” a near-perfect, two-minute, modern punk number that starts with a loop of fast distorted guitars and builds quickly with powerful vocals before the jackhammer drumming is layered in. And almost everything that follows carries that same sense of intense urgency. In classic punk fashion, the average song length hovers on the two-minute mark, giving a ‘hit hard and quick, and get out of there’ vibe. Musically, “Powder Keg,” a song that keeps the powerful guitars but that starts with a slightly slower tempo before, appropriately enough, building up louder and faster, is one of the most compelling songs here on a record brimming with great songs.
(*Review by John Moore ).
"when the day is done"
Year: 2020
Label: Pirates Press
Format: LP
Tracks: 6
Time: 16 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Punk
"idem"
Year: 2018
Label: Pirate Press
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 12
Time: 28 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Punk
