It’s been too long since we got a full-length dose of Drug Church’s cathartic, transcendent bad vibes. The band came back last year with the Tawny EP, but they haven’t released a full-length album since the monumental 2018 LP Cheer. Four years might not seem like that long for a lot of bands, but we’ve known for a while that a new Drug Church album was done and that the band was just waiting for the right moment to let us hear it. Today, the drought finally ends. Drug Church have dropped their new album Hygiene, and it hits like a bomb.
Drug Church’s seasick churn marries the physical pummel of hardcore to the hooky riffage of ’90s alt-rock and the trudging glower of ’90s noise-rock — three vaguely-aligned Venn diagram circles that don’t overlap nearly often enough. Drug Church also has Patrick Kindlon, one of the most compelling frontmen currently working, and he uses this band to get into everything that might be unsettling him or pissing him off at any given moment. Hygiene is a great rock record that’s mean and fun in equal doses.
Drug Church have been building up to this release for a while, and they’ve already shared a bunch of Hygiene tracks: “Million Miles Of Fun,” “Detective Lieutenant,” “World Impact,” “Premium Offer.” Patrick Kindlon has also done one of the most entertaining interviews that we’ve gotten to run on Stereogum in recent memory. Our patience has paid off; the full LP is worth the wait and the rollout. Stream it below.
Hygiene is out now on Pure Noise Records.
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