You must know I am a huge Pulley fan, but especially, I have always been a huge Scott Radinsky fan, having followed him from his first Ten Foot Pole album Rev, going back to his first band Scared Straight, and then seeing him releasing such great albums with Pulley, who disappointed me only with Together Again for the First Time. I even drove about 200 km to see them in a small club in Genoa with Belvedere (amazing show, by the way!).
With that said, when I read around the internet they were releasing a new album on Epitaph I was stoked. You can't even imagine how sad I was when they then said they were releasing "just" a five-song EP on their own. I was quite disappointed. Not for the Epitaph thing (even though I was quite used to seeing these guys releasing music for Brett, but you know, Brett doesn't seem to like good music anymore), but for the fact that this was an EP. Just a few tunes, and I always need more!
With that said, after hearing the band's new effort Time-Insensitive Material, I must say I am totally enjoying the new songs. They sound totally new to me, and I can hear a new Pulley style, taking their music into a new direction, where the melodies are not just there to sound pleasant to your ears, but the aggression is there too, and Scott's message is always there. I could describe his lyrics as Leopardian cosmic pessimism but with a lot of humanity hidden inside.
As they did on their self-titled album (also known as @#!*), which was filled with amazing songs as "Gone" and "Second Best," this new EP is filled with amazing material as "Ghost Inside of Me" and "Mandarin," which are two of the most inspired tunes the band has released in years; the line "Someone tell the stars to go away, I'd like the sky real black today" describes in a perfect way the mood you get while listening to the music behind those lines. "Enemies" is probably my least favorite song on the record; Scott's melodic lines alternate to a screamed voice that reminds me of some tune on their record 60 Cycle Hum, the band's most experimental album to date.
"Rattling Rust" is my personal favorite anthem on this EP, as you can find about three parts in it -- the slower one, the more aggressive one with the fast guitar riffs when Scott starts singing the verses and the super catchy choruses ("And I can't believe this is how it ends, I lost you as a friend, and I'm moving on and on and on to bigger dreams, it's just the way I planned and that's the way it is") that puts me in a good mood, because when you are master of your destiny in the end, that's what matters.
"The Never Ending," the opening track, is maybe the one sounding more classic Pulley, as the fast guitar riffs are there as well as a lot of melodic lines and choruses.
Pulley has never disappointed me, including this time. It's "just" a five-song EP, and the music industry will swallow it and digest it very fast, but if you like good, positive and aggressive music made to make you change the way you see things, you must consider spending some time with Pulley; they have so much good advice to give.