Lots of bands play music dripping with up-tempo, three-chord guitar progressions and spare, grating vocals about angst and alienation. Unsatisfied with these tired punk cliches, Pile Up shapes tunes that drone with punk guitar abrasiveness, but augment them in a way that makes the music both complex and interesting. Their vocals, for example, abandon the traditional punk wailing and fluctuate between a simmering, calm monotone and boiling screams of unbridled frustration. This isn't your standard, slap it down, spit it out punk rock, thank God.

--Tom Cornell