We Demand a Permanent State of Happiness

Deaf Club

The new batch of tunes from Justin Pearson and company is another helping of frenetic, atonal, and confrontational hardcore punk. Although, I would say the chaotic intensity that you'd come to expect from a Pearson project is slightly tamed in favour of a grimier, crustier presentation. Pearson, now at age fifty, is still every bit the iconoclastic performer he's always been, as evidenced by the gnarly shrieks he unleashes on standout tracks like Crap Circles and Counterfeit Coins. Tonally, he sounds the same, but instead of the drier, in-your-face placement in the mix, his vocals are treated with reverbs and echoes that give him this mythological presence that is pretty cool. While I think the collection overall is a decent listen, I do think it's missing some undisputable bangers. I thought the guitar riffs could've been flashier and the drum grooves often felt recycled. The production can also be inconsistent at points. Tracks like Pain In the Assery sound muddy compared to the rest; really lacking the trebly bite that wonderfully burns the ears. These aspects kept me from loving the project, but even if it's not the most essential music of Pearson's career, it's great to see him still giving it his all at this stage.