Canadian rock juggernauts The Dirty Nil have been moshing their way through North America’s grimiest basements and loudest clubs for years, and their new LP Master Volume, (Dine Alone Records, out September 14th) multiplies their sound to stadium-filling, nosebleed-reaching dimensions. Asserting an amplified, technically informed, yet polish-free style, the band proves their punk mastery while retaining all of their raw, buzzed-out power.
Playing 350 shows over the past three years all over the world was pretty impressive, but The Dirty Nil didn’t just spend the past few years on the road in support of their debut album. They spent much of it opening for—and, more importantly, studying—the greats: Against Me, FLAG, Billy Talent, Alexisonfire and The Who. They’re bands who, like the Nil, cut their teeth for years on the local circuit playing the dingiest of dives, but now find themselves playing arenas and headlining festivals. With Master Volume, The Dirty Nil are ready to make the same leap—not by polishing their sound for radio, but by bulking it up to fill the stadiums and open fields of their most vivid rock ‘n’ roll fantasies. And, sure, winning the Juno Award for Breakthrough Group of the Year made the parents proud.
First single “Bathed in Light” epitomizes this, a cruelly danceable death-behind-the-wheel jam set to a sludgy, glam rock, Cheap Trick-esque riff. Luke explains the idea behind the video: “I’ve been around a lot of explosions and fireworks, but the cumulative effect of all that firepower left me trembling with nervous excitement. The constant barrage of high intensity lights and lingering smell of burnt flash powder served as a proud testament to the mayhem and disorientation we had caused to the nearby community. Those lucky folks ain’t forgetting The Nil anytime soon. Children of the world, nice to meet you – sincerely, The Dirty Nil, your new favourite band."
Loaded with steady-grooving songs about living fast and life-affirming anthems about dying young, Master Volume ultimately amplifies The Dirty Nil’s most essential quality: their refusal to be defined. They’re too melodic and muscular to be purely punk, but too raucous and unhinged to pass as straight pop; too cheeky to be overtly political, but still acutely in tune with the unsettled, anxious energy of the times in which we live. Whether you find catharsis in a crowd-surf or a street protest, Master Volume captures the ecstatic rush of getting swept up in a communal moment… and the frantic fear that it can all come crashing down at any second.
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