Maybe it should have been called “controlled violence.”

Austin, Texas' StumbleDrunk have succeeded in making a ten-minute romp that presses against your throat like an extremely sharp blade. Swallow too hard and you'll draw blood for sure, pull away and you might miss something. Accept it fully and it could end you.

Listening to this EP, Collusion, feels like you're driving too fast. Or like you're standing on the precipice of a jagged, towering cliff, and the boys of StumbleDrunk are daring you NOT to jump.

With this release, they did.

They dove headfirst into territory that sounds more fitting of the name StumbleDrunk than they were on their first LP. Gone are the combined elements that encompassed the Monday Evenings sound, its contents shaken and released, bubbling through your earholes.

You will be challenged listening to Collusion, and not just to find the band from that terrific LP. It is the same haunting, pushy band. The challenge for me, was to find what they cannot play. They do pained, regretful storytelling so well already. Now, they've proven themselves as willing students of blistering, chaotic heaviness.

And both are blissful, but not in comparison.

To love Collusion is to leave your pretentiousness at the door.
To hate it, is to be afraid.

As well you should be.

Kristina Villarini is a writer and editor who is asked to write a lot of things. She does, after procrastinating a great deal. Her writing has been seen in magazines, blogs, and her own (currently fermenting) website. She lives in New York, where she sleeps late, and drinks often. Say hello via: kristina.villarini@gmail.com