Born from the ashes of Gaza, Cult Leader is a Salt Lake City four-piece who dropped their debut full-length last year on Deathwish to scattered applause. Anyone who was into Gaza was floored by Cult Leader, and many people picked up the record just because it was on Deathwish, but their overall reach seems to have been stunted by a lack of word of mouth, as I have yet to meet one person who says they know who Cult Leader is. They are a great band, their first record was killer through and through, and then... this....
Artwork: Honestly, I feel like they got lazy with this one, as the design is the same featured on the insert of their first record, Nothing For Us Here, as well as on stickers sent out with every Deathwish order during the time of Nothing...'s release. It's an iconic design and serves its purpose well, but when I saw this posted as the album cover, I figured it was a hold-over until the real cover came out. Nope. Just recycling the old. To each their own.
Structure: The A side of this record features two new Cult Leader tracks, both gnarly crust anthems that are barely distinguishable from one another. Having listened to this record ten or more times, trying desperately to fall in love with it like I did with their first record, I still cannot recall any particular sections of either song. The B side of the record, however, is what makes Useless Animal a memorable and noteworthy release. On this track, Cult Leader teamed with SubRosa to create a unique rendition of Mark Kozelek & Desertshore's "You Are Not Of My Blood" which stands out among Cult Leader's previous work as a quiet, overall reserved piece that uses subtlety and grace to channel its emotion. This track is about 7 minutes long and builds slowly into some incredibly lush instrumentation toward the end that I was genuinely wowed by on the first (and second, and third...) listen. It's not a happy song, but it is a bold artistic statement made almost with sleight of hand, as it is more powerful through its unassuming nature than both songs on the other side of this record. The A side weighs the record down heavily, and the B side lifts it up high. It averages out to okay, which again, is a shame, because this could have been the 7" of the year, and it borders on being forgettable.
Sound: The first two tracks sound like Nothing For Us Here if it was mixed and mastered by someone who didn't care. As much as I want to say it's great, it isn't, and it's a shame, because Cult Leader is a great band. "You Are Not Of My Blood," however, is treated as a standalone track, and is a beautiful display of what both Cult Leader and SubRosa are capable of. The production alone makes the track a worthy listen, and the song is an understatedly powerful piece of emotional writing that is a must-listen for anyone into either hardcore/punk or alternative rock.
Lyrics: Cult Leader delivers some lines that sit somewhere between succinct and half-baked. There is maybe one impressive line on the A side, which does not meet the standard set by their first record. I don't know what happened here. Maybe they're trying something new, or maybe they're just not trying.
For Fans Of: Coalesce, Converge, Yautja
Rating: 5 / 10
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Keep it decent.