Since forming last year, the Philadelphia-based Low Dose has been making a ton of noise in the alt-rock scene. With a lineup that brings together vocalist Itarya Rosenberg (Legendary Divorce) and the three members of the doom-rockers Fight Amp, Low Dose hits the ground running with their hard-hitting, pink-tinged, self-titled debut.
Heavy-handed dynamics are in play from the start, as the album-opening “Low” is an exercise in ebb and flow, evolving from a single shimmering chord into a sludgy, slithering riff, before finally erupting into the song’s infectious chorus (which just so happens to be one of the record’s strongest hooks). Meanwhile, “Right On” settles into a more straight-ahead groove, while the breakneck “For Sure” rounds out what is an incredibly…
…solid one-two-three punch of an opening.
From there, Low Dose rarely lets up. The Sabbath-sized riff that permeates “Away” is a mid-album highlight while the just-over one-minute “Song 12” is an impressively chaotic moment that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on the Converge classic Jane Doe. From start to finish, Low Dose is, for lack of a better word, a ripper. With the exception of the meditative final track “Legendary Divorce”, the album is a brutally monochromatic listen.
While grunge-tinged alt-rock has been done to death, Low Dose does it well. The band evokes strong shades of some of the ‘90s best – think Quicksand meets the Breeders – while sustaining a modern feel throughout most of the record. When it comes to modern rock, there’s a fine line between inspired and derivative, and (for the most part), Low Dose walks that line with grace.
Low Dose’s self-titled debut is a noisy, rambunctious mix of loud guitars and ‘no-fucks-given’ vocals that more often than not manages to hit its mark. And while there’s a ton of room for growth here, as far as debuts go, Low Dose is the sound of a band that’s already well ahead of the curve. — soundblab.com