"Hysteric" kicks off with two or three seconds of near silence. The anticipation (premonition, if you want) is resolved joyously, in a way both old and familiar: barrage of speedy guitar lines, relentless drumbeat and stellar vocal melodies. The whole package, the immaculate noise punk racket you have grown to love over the 12 years of the band's existence. In a way, there are few things more comforting than the signature wall of sound from one of Vancouver's finest bands.
This, sadly, is White Lung's final album. Premonition had actually been written prior to 2020 but the pandemic put things on hold. The hiatus did not, in fact, break the band. The decision had actually been made earlier - and I do not find it tragic. First, nothing beats a discography of five consistently brilliant albums. Second, Premonition is a dream ending to a great career.
Essentially, White Lung's take on hardcore punk is different in the sense that it stays non-abrasive and even (God help me) family friendly without losing any of the rough edges associated with the genre. Anne-Marie Vassiliou pounds those drums with intelligent savagery. Kenny McCorkell crafts the incessant onslaught of orgasmic guitar intricacies. Mish Barber-Way weaves timeless melodies into and out of the beautiful noise. That's it. That is the pattern. But what a great fucking pattern that it.
As ever, the album features 10 songs and the overall running time does not exceed 30 minutes (worth remembering, though, that some of their earlier LPs did not even reach 20 minutes). Nothing overstays its welcome, everything hits hard and gets the fuck out. "Date Night" and "Tomorrow" are great singles but you could throw a dart at the track list and hit another one. Having said that, "Under Glass" is almost a ballad, "Girl" is almost filler and the epic (I'm using the word loosely) "Winter", with its powerful interruption in the middle, is most definitely the perfect swan song.
Not too many bands release great albums in December - but there is something deeply satisfying about White Lung pulling it off with the last record of their career (hence the delay in the monthly feature on this blog). Premonition is a beautiful end in a world where nobody knows how and when to stop.
