Wahey! Seized Up are back! After really enjoying their first LP, ‘Brace Yourself’, which came out via Pirate’s Press Records back in October 2020, I wasn’t overly convinced we’d get another one. Such is often the case with these pandemic associated projects. Years down the line, I feel like people will talk about the “pandemic period” like it was some kind of mysterious time, but probably without being able to contextualise it with any kind of lived experience or whatever.
Anyway, Seized Up are comprised of members of BL’AST, Good Riddance and The Distillers amongst others. If you heard ‘Brace Yourself’ a few years back, then you’ll quickly realise that ‘Modify the Sacred’ picks up right where it left off. Probably dialing up the visceral rage another few notches, though. So don’t be fooled by the Sleep meets Darkthrone meets Suno))) blackened doom style artwork, which is admittedly a bit of a head scratcher, if I’m honest.
There’s a real undercurrent of tightly wound stress and agitation running through this opus. Understandable, given singer and lyricist Clifford Dinsmore spent some stretch of time in recent years battling cancer, often confined to his home. Probably draws a direct line of comparison to solitary confinement or zoo psychosis, I would guess. No surprise that the album is so bleak and pissed-off sounding. That’s not even taking into account the miserable state of global affairs that pervades recent history.
Thematically, asides from the understandably funereal self-scrutiny that comes along with an all to often fatal prognosis, some classic song fodder find’s itself served up once again… sick, twisted, evil fucking society, religion, war, idiots on the internet. Basically, a smorgasbord of all the good (well, bad) stuff that everyone out there with their head screwed on properly can really enjoy and relate to.
As musical reference points, I’d go with the pacing of The Nerve Agents meets Paint It Black. It also has that hard to define relentlessly locked in groove thing that Drive Like Jehu had going, given a bit of a Black Flag creepy crawl attitude adjustment.
This album teeters spectacularly on the brink of edging over into “it’s a bit of a hard listen” territory. However, there’s something so enthralling and compelling about it that you (or at least I did) find yourself repeatedly dragged through the experience and feeling really fucking grateful for it. Exhilarating stuff that leaves you feeling like someone used your body to violently mop the toilet floors in CBGB.
Tony of Nurgle rating: 10/10
This is available on a range of coloured vinyl options from the Pirates Press Records webstore and decent distros and punk rock shops.
