Under the Beach

Big Bear's follow up to 2005's s/t album on Monitor Records - never properly released - available here for the downloadable consumption of the masses. With Under The Beach, Boston's Big Bear begin their migration away from the hardcore-leaning s/t debut in search of a more cultivated, yet equally riff-heavy sound. What results is 45 minutes of mathy jigsaw splendor. Dueling keys and guitars construct otherworldly patterns, recontextualizing and reinventing as they twist forward. Big Bear subvert the ideas of traditional melody and harmony, using vocals as a rhythm instrument and epileptic guitar labyrinths as a snaky logic puzzle. They have perfected the art of making disorienting, perplexing arrangements comprehensible on a primal, mosh-pit-friendly level.