Low Dose’s Debut Full Length Hits With Passionate Noise Rock Swagger

Low Dose’s refreshing debut, self-titled album contorts with emotional and musical harshness while letting the listener see a light at the end of a treacherous tunnel they might be all too familiar with. Thematically, vocalist Itarya Rosenberg drew inspiration from the fallout from a divorce, but she and the rest of the band work to open up their creation so that while sharing self-confident, sometimes even galloping music and complicated, intense emotion, Low Dose does not become inaccessible. That feature no doubt works well for the band just as it serves listeners, since both can come together and truly continue to draw emotional sustenance from Low Dose’s debut as the record goes on, and as you perhaps inevitably have it on repeat. 

The band play a very dynamic noise rock, opening their new record with carefully constructed guitar lines but soon easily employing harsh, thundering components right alongside that opener, not just as a garnish. The band pay close attention to melodic considerations throughout their work, but they feel like they hit a perfect sweet spot between the extremes of simplified, repetitive hooks and outright noise. The best of both worlds gets displayed, and their music gets to stand on its own weight and not rely on any other frame of reference for meaning. From a bird’s eye view, Low Dose feels like a perfectly jagged, sprawling musical environment.

The band feel as though they were really focused on the music itself throughout its creation and not really on outside standards. They have worked hard to make their vision a reality, and it’s apparent in the result of their initial rounds of work. Besides Rosenberg, who formerly performed with Legendary Divorce, Low Dose includes Mike McGinnis, Jon DeHart, and Dan Smith — the final Fight Amp lineup.

Low Dose certainly maintain a clear tie to the grassroots, nontraditional heavy music community. Along these lines, their new record packs what feels at times like a series of rapid fire, visceral, and open-ended communal questions expressed both in the music and the lyrics. The questions can be summarized as: “Why the fuck is this happening?” There might not be an immediately available answer, but at least there’s music.

5/5 Stars

Listen below via Bandcamp. The full album drops March 29 via both Brutal Panda and Knife Hits Records.