The Anomalys return with Down The Hole
For a band that took the equivalent of three presidential cycles to release a new record, they didn’t waste any momentum or ideas releasing this one. Two years after their triumphant return with the Glitch album, these supercharged Dutch-Franco surf punks storm back with their latest release, Down The Hole, and by CROM, it’s a no-nonsense beast of an effort. With the slow n’s hypnotic, reverb-heavy single “Anxiety” already released upon the album’s initial announcement, Slovenly Recordings offers up the opposite tempo as the record’s next single with the speed-riffs and live break-beats of “Despair.”
Towards the end of 2022, after playing shows around Europe in support of Glitch, The Anomalys temporarily put their machine to rest, with each member returning to their Amsterdam/Pau/Limoges homefronts, only to reconvene the following year in the Tolousian confines of Swampland Studios under the guidance and enablement of studio head Lo-Spider. Amid a politically charged atmosphere permeating throughout the European continent, the band wrote these eight dark and apolitical tracks on the spot, then ripped through the sessions like a bat out of hell frantically looking for peaceful pastures, only to land in a time fraught with end-of-times tensions. The emotional charge throughout Down The Hole stems from past events, and below, the band’s leader, Bone, gives some context to those Swampland sessions.
“We entered the studio after a pretty bleak chapter in our lives and channeled some serious anger and frustration into these songs. So, this record hits differently than our last one, and musically, we felt we needed to go on some lengthier instrumental adventures. I say that experiment worked out since Looch and my guitar styles became more familiar to each other by this time.”
Down The Hole will be released on vinyl and available digitally through all DSPs on September 6th. Pre-orders are running through Slovenly Recordings, and confirmed live dates are below.
Down The Hole tracklisting
1. “Anxiety”
2. “Despair”
3. “Go Away”
4. “Flat Top”
5. “On My Way”
6. “Coke Head”
7. “Innocence”
8. “Slaughterhouse”
Upcoming Tour Dates
- September 6th – Les Ateliers de Bitche (Nantes, FR)
- October 31st – Funtastic Dracula Carnival (Benidorm, ES) w/Redd Kross, Cosmic Psychos, Man or Astroman, The Marked Men, and more.
Press
“The Anomalys are rough and tumble, rollicking and up-to-no-good rock ‘n’ roll. While their melodies are clean, everything else is dirty, weathered, and sweaty. It’s probably what you thought rock ‘n’ roll meant until 50,000 genre subcategories confused the whole thing.” (Scene Point Blank – USA)
“With drummer Rémi Lucas, singer/guitarist Bone, and the fuzz guitarist Looch Vibrato, known from Magnetix, Glitch cannot be anything other than that the record is a party full of raw, dirty songs. The Anomalys go for the total experience of beer-throwing, bruised limbs, and hoarse voices, including their own.” (Gonzo Circus – Netherlands)
“The Anomalys return with a garage trash-punk blast and prove that their spit and grit never went away.” (Louder Than War – England)
“Their chaotic garage-a-billy trash is a highly condensed mass of pent-up aggression and latent violence. Eight short, concise, and bitter songs, hard-hitting trash rock without a single spark of sweetness or joy, titles like “Ready to Die” or “Bleed for Me” show a band that is determined to do anything and is unwilling to compromise. The songs are mostly pretty fast and energetic; only in “Dead Friends” is the foot taken off the gas, and the song is allowed to develop. But that exception proves the rule that ANOMALYS songs have no time for subtleties. With the powerful production, the rough live sound is also adequately reproduced under studio conditions.” (Ox Fanzine – Germany)
“If you ever liked the Sonics but thought the Dirtbombs got a little too fancy, try the Anomalys. If only for the rupturing, rapturous drums.” (Dusted Magazine – USA)
“Their new album is a riot: trash garage punk in black tank tops!” (Rumores – Italy)
