Under Review

SNIT

Salivation

Napkin Records

Review by Robert Catherall

Salivation, the first proper release from local spazz-punk outfit SNIT is a collection of shrewdly shrouded insecurities drawn out in brief and fierce bursts from a group existing in a world where it’s still 1980. At just over 10 minutes, this cassette-only affair features six tortured tracks that will have you crawling up the walls in paranoid anxiety from start to finish. Channelling a “live fast, die young” attitude, SNIT draw heavily on the mistrusting nihilism of ‘80s underground to end up somewhere between the pacing energy of the Germs and the dishevelled mess of early Royal Trux.

Released October 5 via tireless local DIY label Napkin Records, Salivation is a genuine mix of self-loathing and stick-and-poke tattooed adolescence. The opener, “Cat Brain,” has Trevor McEachran’s frenetic guitar work creeping through sneering chants of, “How do you like me now?” Meanwhile, “Can’t Trust Your Neighbour” is two minutes of classic punk alienation, burning through riffs that ascend their guitar necks as quickly as the tracks themselves. It’s a patchwork of frayed guitar riffs sublimated by Tunold’s paranoid chant: “By the end of the world / I’ll be living in a hole / Nobody’s going to know me / Nobody I want to know.”

While it’s the highlight of the tape and will have your walkman’s rewind button digging the Energizer bunny an early grave, it’s definitely not the last reason to make Salivation worth hunting down, as “Milky White Drops” and the closing title track see the EP coming full circle, ending as abruptly as it began. This is one you’ll want to dig through your record shop’s cassette bin for.