The members of Raw Blow have been slugging it out in Boston basements and bars for 10 plus years in bands like Now Denial, Furnace, Bravo Fucking Bravo, and Luau. The sum of their parts is a sonic quilt stitched together from their former acts. Loud, anxious and aggressive guitars are interwoven with grungy impassioned vocal harmonies and No Idea Records style dirt pop. Blast beats force mathy melodies to stop on a dime, twisting, turning, and wriggling under the grit. Drums snap back and forth, anticipating the emotional swings of the bands’ three singers who trade off belting gravelly shouts, throat shredding screams and sudden moments of vocal clarity.
Lyrics on the new EP “Slow Choke” often deal with isolation and stagnation – an inability to move forward, the feeling of dragging around ghosts from the past. Raw Blow as a band, however, represent a fresh start and giant leap of faith for it’s members. Both in the vulnerability of it’s themes and the willingness to, at times, trade in the security blanket of volume and noise for dynamics and emotional weight. This is the sound of a chances being taken.
