Super Thief – The ‘Super Thief’ EP In Review

Super Thief – Austin, Texas, USA.

Article cover photo credit – Jacqueline Lege

Austin‘s Super Thief take all that you love from the classic Steve Albini records, and wreck it by way of Fugazi.

What I mean of course is that their etching of Post-Hardcore and Noise Rock, isn’t a washy shot of water – because you’re too drunk to know the difference – instead, their debut EP reminds me of Big Ups, another band who sound like a young, angry, modern band playing sounds by the school of Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto.

The EP is book-ended by spoken word pieces with heavy instrumentals. It’s cool, and if you like your Punk with a little (but not an over-bearing amount of) political direction, then you’ll be sated – or, satisfied to the full.

The EP starts with gritty-gravel-thrown-in-your-face guitar work, before the lyric, ‘familiar bitter taste’. However, this is such a good taste that I keep coming back for more.

‘Bleak’ sounds like a crispier, Poppier California X song. This one has risen up from the swamps and is beach-drinking, until the chorus hits -‘Revolve around me, I’m sick’. ‘Bleak’ is a pretty downtrodden song, the title stands proud and the vocals at the end of the track are strained and cutting. One vodka too many? “Just a real lookout on life, man”.

‘Needle Fix’ has a groove that I could see being played by Big Ups or Dope Body, and that, once again, is really cool, because it’s always good to see bands creating a similar sonic scene even though they’re from such different locations.

The bass riff on ‘Copacetic’ is smooth amidst the heavy reckoning of guitars, and the bass remains solid going into ‘Dementia 5’, which is maybe the most Punk-Rock song;

‘The sofa stained with cheap red wine subverts your dime, I’d point it out if only I had the spine’.

It’s even got that whole, “let’s get the bass rolling on it’s own throughout the verses” level of Punk-Rock. *THROWS FISTS IN THE AIR*.

The chorus screams, ‘allll aalllonnnee’, and the build up to the final crashing chorus is intense and enjoyable; it’s like floating through Punk-Rock outer-space, before shrill, tremolo picked guitars echo to Pluto and back.

Texas bunch Super Thief ARE super. Their sound isn’t much new, but it’s fun and it’s giving me a lot of fun still. It’s a real kick in the gums, and when the end of the album asks, ‘What is your hobby?‘ I answer it with this EP.

• Find them on Facebook and for Twitter updates and general tomfoolery, and visit their Official Website for a more hands-on look at the band.
• The band’s SoundCloud provides an avenue for listening, as does bandcamp, where the band’s music is all downloadable for cheap.

#StayFresh