With a sound that blends knotty guitar work with a propulsive rhythm section, {|Native|}'s {|Orthodox|} is an album that can best be described as unsettled. Channeling the jangly and explosive sound of bands like {|At the Drive-In|}, there's a sense ... Read more

With a sound that blends knotty guitar work with a propulsive rhythm section, {|Native|}'s {|Orthodox|} is an album that can best be described as unsettled. Channeling the jangly and explosive sound of bands like {|At the Drive-In|}, there's a sense of tension and restlessness at work here, giving the feeling that {|Native|} are a band with a lot of energy to burn off who aren't accustomed to staying in one place very long. Word City starts the album out simply with some strummed chords, feeling almost like a gymnast going through some breathing exercises before beginning a complicated and difficult routine, as the song quickly opens up into a twisting web of noodly post-hardcore that seems to be constantly shifting and contorting itself into new shapes. Given the artistic statement found in the album's liner notes, which bemoan a lack of reasonable discourse in the media and a propensity for allowing history to be written by the victors, it becomes clear that the feelings of angst and unrest are no accident. {|Orthodox|} is an album whose mission is to shake you up enough to question the systems in place all around, and given the tension {|Native|} are able to conjure with these songs, it's safe to say the band is successful. Putting social agenda's aside, though, listeners are still left with a well-crafted album of incredibly tight songs from a band whose musicianship is often dazzling, and the fact that they're able to do all of that and still manage to imbue the album with some substance makes {|Native|} a band that's well worth paying attention to. ~ Gregory Heaney Less