Easy Prey

Teeth (2018)

John Massel

Before the word grunge was used to describe music that was darker, dirtier, and heavier, the term that was widely used was pigfuck. This described bands that didn’t fit into the traditional architype of what hardcore, metal, or punk had laid out. Bands like Big Black, Unsane, Cows, and The Jesus Lizard, were rearranging punk and hardcore, and pissing all over the tracks. The result was a form of extremely confrontational music, that turned out to become a highly influential genre. The term pigfuck is no longer used to describe bands that fit into this sound paradigm. Now, the words often used to describe a band that fits this modus operandi are, the AmRep sound. All one has to do is mention the label Amphetamine Reptile records, and most people will know where a band is coming from. Amphetamine Reptile was called home by most of the bands that had this punishingly jarring style, and in the ‘90’s were they were riding high. As time passed and music genre lines began to blur, you began to hear less of a straight forward AmRep sound; that is until the past few years. Recently there has been a resurgence of bands that fit that description. And why not? It seems like every other beloved musical movement of the 90’s underground is having its time in the sun again. Unlike the emo revival that is currently happening, the AmRep revival is still able to polarize audiences, and weed out the faint of heart.

A band like Austin’s Easy Prey is a prime example of just how important this very niche underground music movement was. They’re new eight song LP Teeth, is the band’s first with new vocalist, and ex- OK Pilot member Chris Moynan. Teeth is a record that wears it’s influences on its sleeve proudly and combines them all flawlessly. From the album’s first track “Teeth”, to its last track “Non-Traditional”, it’s as much mid-tempo Converge as it is Unsane. Easy Prey are able to take the music they grew up listening to as kids in the ‘90’s and combining it into something that acts more than the sum of its parts. They are able to pick up where their forefathers left off, and breath fresh air back to a genre that has been gasping to find new life.

The lyrics on Teeth deal with as much of the personal as they do the political. The thing that made the AmRep style bands of the 90’s so great was not only the brutal take on music, but the way they were able to write personal or political lyrics without being blatantly obvious, or to abstract for the sake of art. This is something that Chris Moynan seems to have paid attention to through all the years of listening to his favorite bands. His lyrics have just enough ambiguity for you to get his points on Christians, the current political state, and the importance of self-care, while also making them able to fit your own thoughts and feelings.

Behind Chris’s gutturally shouted vocals is one of the tightest bands currently functioning. The rhythm section is as solid as concrete, and just as unforgiving. They keep a lock on a groove so tight it would be hard to tear them apart. The guitar is complimented by the brutal rhythm section and has enough room to blaze its own path, never needing to fear it will fall astray from the mission to destroy. The band’s sound is elevated by the production and engineering of Dustin Gaudet, who was able to keep Easy Prey from falling a victim to what most bands of the AmRep fell; muddy, distorted production that made the records hard to listen to.

From start to finish Teeth is a release that feels as much a flashback to the mid ‘90’s as it does a document of now. You could sit down and pick apart each song to see where the band got their ideas, or you could just take a drive and let the record take you on its own journey. Teeth, while not carving any new ground in a genre that is reliving its glory days all over again, still manages to grab the listener and keep their attention. There are a slew of bands that are currently trying to capture that AmRep sound but are falling short. It’s hard to capture lightning in a bottle once, let alone twice, but its even harder to do when there are bands like Easy Prey currently making the rounds crushing all that stand in their way.