Worthy of some nervous worship itself
There’s something very characteristic about the East Coast as a locale, in particular, about the music scenes that got their start from there. Cities all along the Atlantic coastline were once bubbling hot beds for hardcore, post-hardcore, noise rock and no-wave in the late ’80s and well into the ’90s, with categorical influence running as long as some of the rivers that span throughout the states. In this context, think of Municipal Waste and Fugazi as two of those rivers, gathering at an intersectional confluence of sound that ideally describes Philadelphia’s Plaque Marks.
The band themselves, which includes members from prominent Philly acts Creepoid, Ecstatic Vision, Powder Room and Fight Amp, claim Pissed Jeans, Rusted Shut and Cherubs as their main inspirations. Along with constant exposure to difference that a few of the members gain working at the most divey rock venue Kung Fu Necktie, Plaque Marks’ debut EP Anxiety Driven Nervous Worship is like an abrasive amalgamation of all these factors from its initial moment.
Raucous and noisy, “Plaque Marks” is a quick introduction into the band’s crude noise punk. Pummeling drums and biting distortion give way to a particularly catchy riff that someone carries into “Oregon Chem-Trail,” where muffled vocals easily dissolve into harshly warped sounds.
Anxiety Driven is pretty harshly warped in its short entirety, but one of the most cutting tracks is “Urban Blighters.” A swiftly pleasant sense of acrimony flows from the song, where an even louder dissonance arches over one of the more poppier and accessible riffs on the album. Its inharmonious production of lasts throughout the EP, but reaches its peak with “Urban Blighters.”
Considering the short timespan of Anxiety Driven, it’s honestly a wildly exuberant six songs worth of energy. It ends on a note of the same name, with its self titled, longest running track closing it out. “Anxiety Driven Nervous Worship” likens a similar vein as “Urban Blighters” — rawly vexing and unapologetically minimal in perfecting production — offering that messy pleasure for a longer period.
Though the members of Plaque Marks are incredibly involved in music acts of different varieties, what they’ve created with Anxiety Driven Nervous Worship is like a short, cacophonous work of art that proves their versatility in understanding in creating enthralling sounds.
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