Protomartyr- Hotel Usona

This latest record from the gloomiest boys in Detroit is incredible. For a band that has settled into a compelling and very rad but relatively routine sound, Hotel Usona expands the formula just enough to emphasize the texture and darkness while propelling Joe Casey’s darkest lyrics to new levels of horror.

In other words, the stuff I love is still there but there’s something more creepy, angry and desperate in both music and words.

There is also, however, a new angle. As Joe Casey runs through the ills of America, he’s now a new dad wrestling with the old question: why bring a person into this world? That makes an already easy-to-identify-with lyricist hit even closer to home for me.

For my money, the strongest material since side B of Consolation and best full length since Under Color of Official Right.