The riveting debut album from the young firestarters from Austin is the year’s most explosive new soundtrack for your local moshpit. The all-female quartet, all still in their early twenties, has mastered multiple hard-rock genres with attitude and skill—punk, grunge, metal, doom—and sounds both blissfully unhinged and utterly in command.
How good is the band Die Spitz? Well, the quartet was awarded Album of the Year by the Austin Music Awards last year… for an EP! The band, Ava Livingston, Chloe Andrews, Ellie Livingston, and Kate Halter, are one of, if not the best young live act in Texas right now, and their debut album, “Something to Consume”, all but confirms their place in the punk pantheon right now.
Released by Jack White’s Third Man label, “Something to Consume” opens with the crunch and growl of “Pop Punk Anthem (Sorry for the Delay)” as singer-guitarist Ava Schrobilgen roars in frustration and rage amid the crashing guitars: “All this tension / Everybody here can see / And did I mention / I need you to take care of me?” On “Throw Yourself to the Sword,” Schrobilgen’s childhood friend Eleanor Livingston rides a galloping metal riff, growling and grunting a warning: “Take what’s mine, then I take two times more.” Believe her. Meanwhile, “American Porn” is fully flowered ’90s grunge, with riffs thick enough for the Melvins. The group’s 34-minute debut statement.
There’s a great balance in the tracklist, as “Go Get Dressed”’ steady, gentle build turns into a thrashing, throbbing breakthrough on “Red40.” Every song pummels, but not every song blisters. Working with Will Yip, it’s clear that he was the best man for the job. “Something to Consume” tackles everything from hardcore to metal to grunge. “Riding With My Girls” is fantastic, and “American Porn” is a bad-bitch tome. “Punishers” carries Twilight inspirations, and the powerful “Voire Dire” sounds like a sign of our fucked-up times. There’s a trust percolating throughout the record, one brought on by four people who couldn’t imagine making music with anyone else. This is music that yells in all-caps.
The album captures the melody and chaos without unwarranted studio gloss. By the time “Something to Consume” reaches its brooding finale, this restless gang of rockers are still just getting started and have already raised the bar.
The Fat Angel Sings 