Hi, everyone. Anthony Fantano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new Prostitute album, Attempted Martyr.

Prostitute, a Dearborn, Michigan band that is on the come up right now. They dropped this record late last year, and I am playing a bit of catch up with it. They have been around now for several years, from what I understand, in one form or another, making a name for themselves with some very fiery live performances and benefit gigs. As a result of that, I'm not really surprised to hear that this record sounds like an immaculately captured, out-of-control show. If you're into dense and intense post-punk, noise rock, post-hardcore bands like Chat Pile as well as Swans, I think you're going to get a lot out of this record.

In fact, there are at least a few vocal performances on the record where the singing sounds a lot like that of a young Michael Gira of Swans, or at least something from the To Be Kind era. The guy who produced this record, too, Chris Koltay, has also worked with the likes of The Armed as well as Mdou Moctar, which I think definitely says something because this album does similarly have a certain heaviness to it as well as an exotic flair.

But ultimately, it's Prostitute's more unique qualities that I think makes this record interesting to dive into, not the commonalities stylistically that it shares with other artists or albums. Because, yeah, the base of very heavy, chaotic rock instrumentation performed with this just intense tightness – that is very much familiar. But in addition to that, the music on this record also incorporates all of these blaring, howling, reedy tones that have a distinctly Middle Eastern flavor. The credits of this record cite quite a bit of sampling going on, so I imagine that's where a lot of these tones are originating.

The record itself on the band's Bandcamp is dedicated to Lebanon as well. I understand that there are personal connections to Lebanon within the band's membership.

I'll say thematically and emotionally, this type of sound, this type of vibe, has a history of diving headfirst into the most depraved and some of the most extreme aspects of the human spirit or all sorts of struggle and turmoil as well. So of course, it's a natural fit for a lot of the lyrics on this LP to essentially read the mad rantings of a violent zeal it. Sometimes that reads like it's from the perspective of the person. Sometimes it's more of like an outside view, like on the track "M. Dada", where there are lyrics that read like open mockery toward an ideologically motivated mass shooter who makes a child a bastard in his violent actions. It's also said this person is a king for a day, but tomorrow is a clown as a result of what they did.

And these angles, events, perspectives dictate a good bulk of the album's lyrics. However, I wouldn't say it's the totality of the record. There are tracks like "In the Corner Dunce", for example, which may not be my favorite on the album musically, as it does seem like a bit of middling Slint and to a degree, Iceage worship. But I still like that the band went for a commendable slow burner in the tracklist here. It does make the record feel less one-dimensional. But if there's anything I specifically enjoy about this track, it's how surreal a lot of the verses read.

On this record, there's also the track "Joumana Kayrouz", which is a very interesting Lebanon/Michigan connection the band is digging up here because apparently this is the name of a woman who is a pretty popular billboard lawyer in the Michigan area. I'm talking tons and tons and tons of billboards of this person if you Google it. I guess thematically on this track, she ends up being the object of intense sexual interest on some level as the track really reads a hedonistic tirade of desire. It actually manages to be the catchiest song on the album, too.

The closing track on the album is another interesting attempt at a slow burn, or at least better than the "Dunce" track, in my opinion. It has a linear trajectory to it that's pretty entrancing, easy to get lost in, lots of harmonious reedy tone layers, too. Of course, given the title of the track, "Haram Induction Hour", we can't be surprised that once again the band is diving into thematically some pretty dark and depraved fantasies around sexual desire as well as a bit of revenge, too.

But yeah, really heavy, intense, intriguing, thrilling, and thematically unique album, and aesthetically unique, too, album from Prostitute over here. While there are some pockets of it that do come off a bit obvious and derivative in terms of where its influences are coming from, they are at least combined and incorporated in a way that is refreshing and specific to them.

The songwriting and performances are killer. The production is quality, too. Yeah, there is a bit of debut album syndrome going on in terms of a few weak points being exposed. Obviously, the slower and more low-key tracks don't go over quite as well as the more fiery cuts. But the band is still off to a great start on this one. It is an impressive beginning with a lot of room to grow, which is why I'm feeling a light to decent 8 on it.

Anthony Fantano. Attempted Martyr. Forever.