There’s been quite the resurgence of noise and noise-adjacent rawk in the past few years, with longtime bands like THE ANTIKAROSHI releasing the finest work of its career [2024’s L’inertie Polaire], the recent MELVINS / NAPALM DEATH’s Savage Imperial Death March collaboration, not to mention relative newcomers EYES and BRIGHT SUNSHINE adding their own angular, jagged shards to the scene with Spinner and Executive Power Supreme respectively.

‘John Travolta’ pops his collar to the sound of that prehistoric dial-up internet connection we love so well, and THE FRĒQS follow shortly. Messrs. Crowell, Mandly and Fierman have come darker this time, more hectic already at the start of No God On The Gold Coast, an almost ZEKE furor and BOTCH fire joining to explode into ‘Chainsawman’. This one, now, is sludge-drenched, Crowell’s honeyed vocals poured over the rusted sewer pipe of the verses, sandpaper against gravel during the chorus, Mandly’s bass tuned to Drop F As In Fuck Off, the attack of Fierman nearly industrial in that 50-gallon oil drum being pummeled by lengths of rebar kind of way.

If noise rock had a hockey team, the groove/chant of ‘Lo IQ’ could be the theme for when it takes the ice, slightly NIRVANA-esque in its sheer singability and (yes) catchy melody. ‘CLEARANCE WRECK’ is hazy, syrupy at first, losing none of its memorability and actual songcraft during the more abrasive sections, which ain’t as easy as you’d think, and PIXIES were masters of. After the infectious diagnosis of ‘It Might Be Rabies’, ‘Secondhand Jesus’ cuts and cuts again, but with precision as opposed to the scattered, directionless abrasion that can actually dull noise rock’s potency.

Ending with the slice ‘n’ dice of ‘Nite Hag’, THE FRĒQS have – in the under thirty minutes that make up No God On The Gold Coast – succeeded in the most difficult tightrope walking act imaginable when it comes to this style; to not only make an album that’s brawny and undeniably heavy, but one that doesn’t do it at the expense of quality songwriting.
Review By: Lord Randall

THE FRĒQS
No God On The Gold Coast
Independent [Digital/CD] / Gum Cuzzler Records [Cassette]