At The Drive-In – Relationship Of Command
(Grand Royal)

At a time when most music is so uninteresting and blatantly manufactured, El Paso’s At The Drive-In continue to blow people away with their hard-hitting and unpredictable style of emotional post-punk rock.

Their latest album, Relationship of Command, finds At The Drive-In moving from Fearless Records to Grand Royal, and in the process moving into the media spotlight. At the risk of contributing to the endless hype surrounding these guys right now, I have to concede that Relationship Of Command truly is one of the musical masterpieces of the year.

It is difficult to describe the sound of At The Drive-In without incorporating such vague and overused reference points as Fugazi and Rage Against The Machine. To drop a few more names into the mix, I must say that I hear a lot of guitar work similar to Embrace (Ian Mackaye’s band prior to Fugazi), as well as Sonic Youth. This only scratches the surface of their sound however. They completely defy categorization, and with this, their most varied release yet, each successive song finds them crossing into new and unknown territory.

Some fans were worried that Ross Robinson wasn’t the right man to produce this album because of his previous work with such bands as Korn, Limp Bizkit and Slipknot. Truth be told, Robinson did an amazing job of capturing the band’s live intensity on this recording.

The album is an all out sonic assault. At times it is chaotic, aggressive, and seething with anger and fury, at other times it is controlled and melodic. It throws so many unpredictable breakneck turns at you that it’s hard to keep up. There is a lot of experimentation here, with extensive use of guitar pedals and vocal effects, along with sporadic use of piano, drum loops and samples thrown in for good measure.

From the opening build up of Arcarsenal to the spoken word/beat poetry weirdness of Invalid Litter Dept, to the final haunting strains of Non-Zero Possibility (which sounds strangely reminiscent of Tori Amos), Relationship Of Command is a complete feast for the ears. As if that’s not enough, Iggy Pop also makes an appearance on the song Rolodex Propaganda.

At The Drive-In are getting a huge commercial push right now, and it is reassuring to see that there are a few people in the music industry who can still appreciate originality and talent. However, it remains to be seen whether or not the general public can appreciate these traits, or at least be brainwashed into appreciating them. Relationship Of Command is an album that may go over some people’s heads, but that is just further proof of its brilliance. — Sean