Album Of The Week: Ceremony Zoo

This was a tough one. A whole lot of good albums come out today, including two that I think are just fucking great: The Men's Open Your Heart and Ceremony's Zoo. Both of those albums come from bands with hardcore-scene roots that are figuring out ways to harness their fuck-shit-up power and putting it in the service of bigger sounds and wider ideas. And both represent something I'm really enjoying: A resurgence in blunt, wrathful boot-to-skull indie rock -- something I'm also hearing in excellent new releases from bands like Cloud Nothings, Screaming Females and my dudes Mr. Dream. Open Your Heart is the moment that the Men, who were cranking out awesomely disgusting pigfuck as recently as last summer, discover the thrills of bar-rock riffage and inclusive party yowls. It's a fiery, liberating album, and it would waltz right into this particular distinction almost any other week this year. But then there's also Ceremony's Zoo, an album that sounds like my high-school years exploding directly into my face, and that one's great, too. I've been going back and forth all week, but in the end, I'm giving it to Zoo. Seriously, though: Go out of your way to listen to both albums.