Relatives in Descent

You know it's a great album when you get disappointed that it's over. Excellent balance between harsh a melodic ideas, deadpan vocals reminiscent of Nick Cave, and the flow of tracks from one to another was seamless. This was a great add that I probably never would have listened to otherwise, thanks!

I must be careful not to cross over into glibness, but there's a review which captured Relatives perfectly but in which I come to exactly the opposite conclusion. Yes, it's a sad record, and yes, it has some nice drum recordings. In fact, the compositions feel led by the drums into a crashing city. The rubble thundering is from buildings tall enough to collapse eternally. Joe's writing is apocalyptic, funny, perfect for a lazy listener like me. Just this time around I found myself ready for the Flann O'Brien reference. This record is always a cathartic listen; It's also brutal. Couldn't have been a fun adventure recording, exactly, but I imagine I'll always be grateful to Protomartyr for doing it.

Post-post-punk-revival? Following the decline of the post-punk revival in the early-mid 2000s, bands would dirty up their production a bit with distinct indie rock and noise rock influences. Women and Preoccupations from Canada, later IDLES and Fountains D.C. from across the pond, and Protomartyr from America. While not particularly popular, it would give rise to the more experimental and playful post-punk acts of the 2020s: Squid, Viagra Boys, Stuck, and of course Black Country, New Road. All good bands and artists, all owing some amount of their success to Protomartyr as they helped pave the way for a cool new rock sound. Relatives in Descent is a gritty, focused record that stands on the shoulders of the original post-punk progenitors and glides over the overly sleek sound of the post-punk revival. It relishes in dark, existential themes while reintroducing the "punk" back into "post-punk". Protomartyr maintains a consistent level of quality throughout and redefines the modern age of rock music for years to come. We should give thanks for this album. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: Yes. Believe it or not, this is a landmark album and we're now far enough removed from its release date to recognize its impact. It should be in the list.

Good drum work but very sad sounding singer

Always excited to hear a band from Detroit that I wasn't already familiar with. I liked this a lot, and I have a feeling it will be rewarded by repeated listening, so that's what I plan to do. Thanks to whoever added this! 4 stars.

Funny enough, I was wearing my Protomartyr shirt when this was revealed. I'm a fan. This wouldn't have been my pick out of their albums ("The Agent Intellect" would have been) but it's still a solid album. The rhythm section acts as the propulsive engine while the guitars craft appropriate atmosphere for Joe Casey's depressed, drunken scholar ramblings. It's oppressive, dour, and I love it. Favorite tracks: "A Private Understanding", "My Children", "Windsor Hum", "Corpses In Regalia"

An excellent record. The band has always been under the radar in Europe I think, but they are nectar for connoisseurs. This is probably their best work

This album reminded me of Joy Division/New Order with a good dose of Sonic Youth style noise rock thrown in. The vocal delivery reminded me of Nick Cave at times as well. Overall, this was a good listen and it is a solid post-punk album. However, by the way the album sounded, I expected it to be older than it was. It seems to retread a lot of what came before.

Big ups to whoever put some Protomartyr on the list. While this is definitely the band's most consistent LP, their entire discography is amazing – led by Joe Casey's trademark vocals and a distinctive post-punk sound, this outfit has created an unmistakable sonic signature that stands out among a crowded field. I'd listened to most of these tracks in isolation, but they really come together as a full LP. There's an innate sense of isolation and ruin, of things lost and left behind. It's amazing how evocative the songwriting is with just a little reverb guitar, simple pounding melodies, and of course Casey preaching/droning on top. Excellent album and a perfect addition to the more modern 1001 canon.

Hmmmm… didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it.

It wasn't awful but I definitely did not need to hear it. It wasn't too long. Nothing really noteworthy about it. I have no desire to revisit. I will generously round up.

Wow, this is the kind of albums I am here for. I did not know of these guys before and I am glad someone introduced them to me. This hits the same spot a Chat Pile would do. I really enjoy the gnarly, raw, noisy post punk vibes of this album. It is a weird bland of ugly yet catchy music. I especially enjoyed the more abrasive passages. Definitely got to check the rest of their stuff. 9/10

4.5 rounding up to 5 - great band, really cool album artwork across their albums.

"Heraclitus The Obscure" indeed, Joe Casey's dyspeptic presence, deadpan delivery and stoic stream of consciousness paradoxically storm through this record as strikingly as Greg Ahee's gyrating and melancholic guitar lines, Scott Davidson's pointed and driven bass, and Alex Leonard's either understated or propulsive drums do -- funnelling the whole thing to greatness as if the four men were cautiously driving at night on the dilapidated Detroit expressway. Subtle eerie touches of synths or pedal effects give a discreet extra sonic layer at times. And jumps through different rhythms from one track to the next also provide the necessary variety in what is admittedly a greyish, down-in-the-mouth, overall artistry. Very short fourth track "Caitriona" might sound like a relatively underwhelming interlude here, but everything else is stellar, especially opener "A Deeper Understanding" and "Here Is The Thing", but also "My Children", "The Chuckler", "Windsor Hum", "Night-Blooming Cereus", "Male Plague"... In closer "Half Sister", Casey circles back to the cryptic existentialism of the album's first cut (a private understanding indeed), so as to brand an infinitely unsettling question mark inside the listener's ear. No one can reach the truth, but Joe probably wants you to know you won't find it in capitalism or the entertainment industry. Bleak, yeah. But necessary. Mysterious and intoxicating, potent in the political subtext possibly animating those pessimistic songs, both elegant and abrasive, never heavy-handed, Protomartyr have been one of the pivotal forebearers of the American strand of that late 2010s post-punk revival whose ripples can still be felt today in the music landscape (along with Women/Vietcong/Preoccupations). Hard to say which one of their most prominent LPs is the most important, between *The Agent Intellect*, *Relatives In Descent* or *Ultimate Success Today*... One thing's for sure, though: this band will be remembered for the idiosyncratic and automatically discernible manner in which they seized that post-punk tradition, infusing unmistakable mundane Midwestern features into their work -- which seep through without ever letting the listener pinpoint where those features exactly stem from. Probably Casey's presence and vocals, I imagine... Just like the girl the man talks about in the opener and closer, I am thus "trying to reach you" with this review. And I will probably fail. But failing is OK when you love this act. Because rarely have human failures put to music been so evocative and even inspiring. Let the Heraclitus paradox flow here. Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ----- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 35 (including this one) Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 44 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 91 ---- Émile, quelques réponses au dessus

Like Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Joy Division, and At The Drive-in had a jam session in Manchester in 1980, then sent the results through time to be polished and produced to modern standards. A great suggestion, by a band I am looking forward to exploring more

With the exception of Malone, anything with Post in the the name is awesome. I didn't know Post Punk was a top five genre. Now I do. Thanks Protomartyr.

ooh hell yeah I love this kinda freaky Swans-esque music - 10/10

Post-punk lives on.

4 Awesome!

Intresting style. Quite enjoyed this album

Great band! Dark and strange, eerie and unnerving. Catchy hooks and never cliche. And that bass, that bass!

This is another one I had to listen to several times to get into. There were a couple of great standout songs right away, but some of the other songs took me longer to appreciate. Standouts: Male Plague, Here is the Thing, Up the Tower, Half Sister Others: A Private Understanding, My Children Rating: 3.75

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: A private understanding, Windsor hum, Up the tower, Male plague, Half sister

Enjoyed that

Very great post-punk album with great performance of the musicians.

This guy wins first prize in the Nick Cave soundalike contest I just held in my head. I liked it.

A good replacement for Nick Cave as he drifts to becoming a mediocre talking head for hire.

Excellent. Never heard of them. But resonates with a lot of good music.

Surprised to see this here

This was good. You can hear the influence on bands like Idles

A moody and spiky post-punk record in the vein of Parquet Courts (reminds me of Idles as well but I think this album predates them) with fantastic grooves and thoughtful lyrics. I only discovered Protomartyr from the album they put out after this which is also really good - definitely one of the most exciting and consistent rock bands of the last few years

Probably my 5th favorite of their albums but I still really like it. The Agent Intellect and No Passion All Technique are my favs.

Enjoyed this

Banger album from a banger band

This is a bit Nick Cave in places. It's alright.

I had no idea what I was getting into with this one. Turns out I really liked it. Something about the overall sound just really worked for me. I’m giving it a 4 on first listen. Subsequent listens may push that up or down.

I've given this album a couple of spins before - it's interesting to hear some post-punk revival that takes their vocal cues from The Fall - particularly on "Here is the Thing". I see a lot of people criticizing the muddiness, but I dig it - it's a vibe. Fave tracks - "A Private Understanding" - it sounds like it's about to break into the "Bob's Burgers" theme tune at points which always makes me crack a smile. "The Chuckler" and "Corpses in Regalia" are also cool...

A band I've dabbled in in the past and keen to explore further. Faves A Private Understanding, Male Plague, Half Sister

Heard the name before but never took the time to check them out. Glad I did, thanks !

Protomartyr has always been cool enough as far as modern post-punk goes. Good live show for sure. This is easily the best album of theirs. Happy it's here for sure.

I hear the Nick Cave comparisons but this is great, this stands up in its own right. Great album .Glad I've been introduced to this band, I'll certainly look out some more of their stuff

Awfully cool and arty and dark enough to intrigue. One gets notes of The Fall and Pere Ubu (plus The National) suggesting these gents have good instrincts and a strong sense of history (though time will tell if they reach such hallowed heights). Opener sets the tone, putting listeners on notice re the seriousness to come. "Here is the Thing" furthers that sense. Among the later cuts, "Night-Blooming Cereus" and "Corpses in Regalia" (with sheering guitars that remind one of Kitchens of Distinction) are particularly cool. Love the from-a-distance sound to the production on "Pontiac 87," which befits a song about the long-ago past. The whole things works, however, sustaining a consistent and intense (but not too) mood. Bonus points for name-dropping Heraclitus. One hears a band like this (and Fontaines DC and [maybe] Geese) and feels like indie rock is in good shape and has a future. One would definitely take over Hookworms, say, on the list proper. Great choice, recommender.

I’ve never heard of Protomartyr before, but I do enjoy post punk and noise rock, so this album will probably be right up my alley! This album was a bit short of five stars for me, but I still thought it was really good. The guitar playing throughout the album was consistently great, and I enjoyed the moments when the violin and the synthesizer were used as well. The guitar playing did such a great job of crafting a really dense atmosphere, but there was a nice balance of different melodic techniques that were used to craft that atmosphere. It took a minute for the album to get going for me, but once it did, I really got into it. Some notes on the songs that really stood out to me: “A Private Understanding” grew on me the longer it went on. By the last stretch, I was really into it. I really liked that shift that it made towards the end. The guitars on “My Children” were really awesome. I loved how the tempo increased, because I had no idea where it was going to go, and that anticipation just made the song so much better. The guitars on “The Chuckler” were really great. The way those notes oscillated was awesome, and the guitar on the chorus was really great too. This was such a really well-fleshed out song, and the violin was incredible too. I loved that segue from “Night-Blooming Cereus” to “Male Plague.” Both songs were really good too. While this album wasn’t perfect, I thought it was really good, and it’s the type of thing I would go back to.

very cool sounds. like a mix between fontaines dc and the fall.

Something about this album struck me as really cool and I felt cool listening to it. Favorite: Here Is The Thing.

This is a great choice. A fairly niche album that also slaps hard. The production is great, the lyrics are fantastic, and the songwriting is very unique. I could have done with more vocal range and the instrumentation was rather lackluster for an album that is, otherwise, so grand, but the overall range on this project is great. “Half Sister” might be my favorite. A very enjoyable listen. 4/5

Sure is post punk. 6/10

I don't know how necessary I'd consider the album, but enjoyable enough and the smooth transitions were a significant plus.

Definitely not bad. I enjoy the song structures, but I kind of want it to be a bit more "raw" a la The Fall. Like the vocals are a bit too pretty? Even though they aren't. I dunno.

Protomartyr is a very cool name for music that is fine

Noisy post-punk rock with aggressively muttery vocals, I didn't hate it but found it hard to really focus in.

2.5 par vraiment mon style, c'est on dirait des année 90, punk genre, mais on dirait aussi industriel, ca ne ma pas marqué

Saw post punk and thought I'd last one track. Pleasantly surprised

This was really interesting to listen to. A more than meets the eye kinda punkband, which sometimes reminded me of Joy Division. Cool vibe!

Pleasantly surprised. May check out some more.

Competent and sad

Musically, this captures many of the proper notes of old school post-punk, but the vocals don't really do it for me. I don't know if it bring anything new to the table, but it was pretty good. Fave Songs: A Private Understanding, Here Is the Thing, The Chuckler, Don't Go to Anacita, Half Sister

This felt like something straight out of the early 80s. Pure post punk that I didn’t love but it wasn’t terrible I guess. It all blurred together but that was kinda by design on this one with each song running into the next.

Never heard of this band before but I thought they were alright. Extra points being from Detroit, but their biggest drawback was definitely the singer. Everything was pretty solid for a modern alternative band but the singer just didn’t have that factor that want had me wanting more. Overall it’s still good. 6.5/10

Just played as I sat there.

I thought I was really going to like this at first but the longer it went on the less I enjoyed.

Brooding dark post punk, enjoyed this but not sure I fully clicked with it to come back, the vocals though very post punk just a little off putting.

Yea, this was worth checking out.

It was pretty good

Okay post-punk

Night-Blooming Cereus was a good song. The rest? fine.

I don't know about this one. The music is cool, but I cannot get into this dude's voice 3/5

Reading some of the other comments on which bands these compares to I see names like Nick Cave and New Order and it's clear why I don't like this. I didn't particularly enjoy either of those bands on the og list and this does remind me of them. Also are the vocals mixed a little low at time? Sometimes a bit hard to hear. The vocals themselves aren't actually that great either which didn't help. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

I thought 'Nick Cave'! straight away.......but it's more than just that. I don't normally like Post -punk but this is intelligent, varied and interesting.

Good enough for what it intends to be.

Checking off a lot of post-punk boxes, shades of your Joy Divisions, your Falls, etc. Singer's kinda doing a Nick Cave impression sometimes.

There are some cool aspects to Protomartyr’s sound, but the near-spoken vocals mess things up too often.

Relatives In Descent is a gloomy affair, though it's better than some of the stuff we've had in this style and genre. The vocals just about work because the music is really well put together and creates a compelling atmosphere, I really liked My Children as well as Half Sister towards the end, think it scrapes a low 3/5 because I didn't really find it impressive, just solid to good without much bad in there.

Post-punk, art punk, noise rock. No me disgusta, pero no me aporta nada nuevo.

Musically pretty great, but vocals didn't do for me. Overall it's not bad.

Tykkäsin

Not bad.

Post punk with Nick Cave vibes.

I think they would like to be The Fall. Dour singing and droning, melodic guitars.

i would like to hear this live

Not really a fan of spoken lyrics, but I like the music. Actually, I'd prefer the instrumental version of this record.

I like a good post-punk album, but this was a bit too raw and abrasive for me.

3/10. Sounded like Nick Cave, but a little less harsh. Almost fell asleep in my chair 2-3 times trying to listen to this. Definitely not my thing

More post punk. No thanks, I listened to three years of this mediocre forgettable stuff.

Not much of my taste

Meh, post-punk crud. Does this stuff pride itself on all sounding identical? 2/5.

I persevered through the first two unattractive and unappealing songs to My Children which lifted my ears and reminded me a lot of Joy Division. However, I it's all a bit mumbly and quite similar.

I wasn’t really impressed by

2017 post punk with gloomy vocals. Rating: 1.5 Playlist track: Caitriona Date listened: 04/10/24

Kind of a beat poet/rap delivery over generally interesting/mini-wall of noise alt rock instrumentation. The lyrical delivery is uninteresting, and there’s nothing particularly engaging or catchy with the music either. It is different but not particularly great. Kind of aimless. There’s nothing that is a major turnoff, it just gets old after 20 minutes.

Fourth studio album anyone? Seems like someone else was paying attention! It's a pretty decent album, but some of the instruments are off for me. Just different. Some in a not so good kind of way. Very heavy. Ultimately difficult to listen to again.

Post-punk, art punk, noise rock. Rollo. Un 2.

No, sorry. I think the Apple Music review put me off, it was so pretentious.

Professional word sayer saying words over instruments going BWOHHH for 40 minutes. Blends together so much that I didn't even notice when the album ended and Spotify started autoplaying other stuff from this band. In the 2010s, there were roughly 3 dark brooding post-punk bands per capita. These guys, Squid, Women, Iceage, Fontaines, Savages, list goes on. Every now and then somebody interesting breaks the mold, like BCNR putting a trillion horn instruments into every song, or Viagra Boys singing about having sex with my mother. This ain't it though.

I dislike this vocal style and the sound of their voice so much. It just sounded like someone talking over the music with little effort to match the ebbs and flows. The music itself was fine and is the main reason this is getting a 2.

I mean, it’s punk so I’m predisposed to it but I didn’t vibe with the spoken-word poetry lyrics. Kinda meh.

Aah, I don’t care for 80s post-punk so I don’t really see why you’d want to regurgitate it 30 years later.

Definitely a unique sound and I can hear why one of us picked why everyone should hear it. But it’s not for me. The vocalist kinda talk-sings and mumbles while the mix has his vocals buried under the music.

Because what this needed was a 300th album by some dude who talk-sings.

Post-punk, art punk, noise rock. Rollo. Un 2.