May 5, 2014

Survival Knife’s “Loose Power” Is Tense, Fresh, and Anything But Predicatable

Courtesy of Riot Act Media

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Survival Knife
Loose Power
Glacial Pace

Folks who have belatedly discovered the great ’90s northwest band Unwound via its current reissue series will want to know about Survival Knife. Reuniting Unwound alumni Justin Trosper and Brandt Sandeno, this high-powered quartet updates their tense, knotty music without a hint of tedious nostalgia. Ranging from social commentary to confessional angst, the taut songs on Loose Power offer a surprisingly fresh hybrid of punk, metal and even progressive rock, incorporating influences from Metallica to Chuck Berry into their flexible sound. In the starring role, Trosper remains a compelling frontman, whose stoic vocals and twisty guitar riffs never settle into a predictable groove, revealing new facets with each hearing.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

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