Leave it to The Jesus Lizard to come back after 26 years sounding even gnarlier than they left us. The Austin post-hardcore/noise rock legends never made a bad record, but they didn’t exactly go out with a bang. After a 1993 split single with Nirvana (who were hugely influenced by pre-Jesus Lizard band Scratch Acid in the first place) helped toss The Jesus Lizard into the major label feeding frenzy on ’90s alternative rock, they signed to Capitol for 1996’s Shot and 1998’s Blue. Recorded without longtime collaborator Steve Albini, the Capitol albums sounded a little cleaner than what Jesus Lizard fans were used to (but it’s still The Jesus Lizard we’re talking about, so they’re still pretty fucked up), and they weren’t exactly doing Nevermind numbers for Capitol. Original drummer Mac McNeilly left the band after Shot, and Capitol’s disappointment in sales of Blue caused the label to pay The Jesus Lizard to not record a third album and then dropped them mid-contract. They unceremoniously broke up in 1999 after being dropped, and they’ve retroactively said that McNeilly’s departure was already the beginning of the end.
In the time since The Jesus Lizard broke up, Yow joined the band Qui; guitarist Duane Denison formed the supergroup Tomahawk with Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle), John Stainer (Helmet, Battles), and Kevin Rutmanis (Cows, Melvins); and Yow and bassist David Wm. Sims briefly reunited Scratch Acid. The Jesus Lizard reformed their original lineup for shows in 2009, and they continued to play live throughout the years, as Yow also fronted Flipper and released a solo record, Denison lent his talents to a Jack White record, Sims did some solo work under the name unFact, and McNeilly drummed in various other projects. The non-Yow members of the band worked on new ideas together over the years, but it wasn’t until more recently that one of Denison’s riffs caught Yow’s ear and talk of a new Jesus Lizard record commenced.
The only person from the classic Jesus Lizard days not involved with Rack is Steve Albini (who unexpectedly passed away shortly after it was recorded), but The Jesus Lizard and producer Paul Allen harnessed the raw energy of those Albini-era recordings while making this one. Everything you want from a Jesus Lizard record is here: Sims’ earth-shaking basslines, the thunderous crack of McNeilly’s snare, the disorienting suspense of Denison’s lead guitar, and the sardonic sneer of David Yow. It’s not unusual for once-antagonizing bands to mellow out with age, but the sixtysomethings in The Jesus Lizard did nothing of the sort. They made a record that’s true to who The Jesus Lizard were on their most beloved ’90s records, and also true to who they are today. As Denison puts it in the band’s new bio, Rack is “not self-consciously different” than The Jesus Lizard’s ’90s records, it’s “just naturally different because we’re at a different point in our lives.”
Rack also reminds you that, for as noisy, abrasive, and discordant as The Jesus Lizard are, there’s also so much tuneful songcraft to their music. As Kurt Cobain once said about Scratch Acid, “They had structure to their songs, real simple pop structure that you could follow real easily, and it was almost like an Aerosmith song, but it was really fucked up.” The Jesus Lizard kept that spirit alive, and Rack embraces that same formula all these years later. It’s as heavy and weird as The Jesus Lizard ever were, and it’s also a fun record that’s easy to latch onto.
Closing a quarter-century-long gap with an album that sounds like it could’ve come out back then means running the risk that maybe the world passed you by, but the type of music The Jesus Lizard helped pioneer might actually be even more prevalent now than it was in the ’90s; it’s at least endured more and aged better than a lot of ’90s music that was more popular than The Jesus Lizard. With bands like IDLES, METZ, and Chat Pile carrying the torch, Rack‘s timing is perfect. If you didn’t know any better, you might mistake it for the work of a rising new band, and that’s kind of the ideal scenario for an album this long-awaited. It strengthens The Jesus Lizard’s already-rock-solid legacy, and if you’ve never indulged in the menacing delights of a Jesus Lizard record, it’d be a fine introduction.
Rack comes out 9/13 via Ipecac. Pick it up on silver vinyl and stream all currently-released singles below.