As with all of us, Dan Yemin was clearly affected by Trump USA. Paint It Black’s first album in FIFTEEN YEARS opens with “famine” wherein Yemin scream, “And this is as American as fences & walls, as American as, ”do the crime, let someone else take the fall.” Not that PiB was ever a particularly upbeat band, but here Yemin and crew seem to writhe in the seemingly permanent damage done by Trumpism- ultra violence, lack of accountability, fear of everything masked a patriotism.
Interestingly, as Yemin goes through modern horrors, he, likely intentional, draws these issues back to ancient times, perhaps suggesting that the darkside of humanity has always been there and is the base of what makes humans be humans. Back to “Famine,” Yemin draws parallels to the treachery and jealousy of Cain. “Dominion,” which carries the theme of the opening track and the album as a whole, Yemin again makes Talmudic/Biblical allusions with “wearing that halo you’ll rot in hell.” “City of the dead” (bot a clash cover) talks about angels with clipped wings (and there are other angel allusions throughout the lp). “Namesake” has direct references to the book of Isiah. Throughout the life of PiB, the band has attacked religion, with perhaps a specific focus on Christianity, so it’s interesting to hear Yemin weave these Judeo-Chrisitan concepts so effortlessly. Is he stealing this imagery as a sort of grotesque “look what I can do” puppetry? Is he covertly making the point that his issue isn’t with belief systems but with institutions? Or, most likely from my perspective, he’s taking the tools from an intense book (regardless of how much stock you put in it) and applying them to an intense time.
That is, the whole LP is as bombastic and explosive as PiB has ever been. The focus certainly is in the oppressive grasp on modern capitalistic-government. Yemin stays away from exact specifics a la Crass, and gives broad attacks while focusing on damage created by a modern government. The band counters this in a style reminiscent of their past, but with a few updates. I also particularly like the jabs stitched in here and there- “you think it’s lonely at the top?! Try it at the bottom!”
As before, the band bangs and thrashes and smashes in brand of modern hardcore informed by bands like Poison Idea and Damaged era Black Flag. But here, the band, more then ever, leans into their Fugazi and post-punk influences. “City of the Dead” features a lot of fancy musicianship that adheres to standard punk fixtures as it drifts away- at times it is purposefully tension filled and discordant. At others, such as with “Famine,” the band almost, not quite, but almost, adheres to a musical, classic verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure. They are successful and audibly violent in both approaches. And that’s one of the reasons the band is still so interesting. Sometimes they are linear and sometimes they are like buckshot. “Exploitation Period” has an extended intro that completely abandons song structure and becomes and massive sound collage. It’s riveting.
Yet, despite all the scowling and growling and slithering through blackness, the band hides an understated optimism throughout the Lp. “My heart is not a closed fist, it’s an open sky,” is near the album’s front end. The back end? “You’ve got us surrounded, so what else is new? Stick around and find out who’s really turning the screw…”
These little twists are why Paint it Black is relevant in 2023 and why they continue to hit as hard as they do. We need bands like this in 2023. Let’s hope in say, late 2024, or 2025, we don’t need them as much. We probably will, but as per Yemin’s suggestion, I’ll try to stay positive in the blackness.
***p.s.-some places are saying this is an "EP." That's BS. This is an album as much as Group Sex and Earth AD are.