Paint It Black – “Invisible”
With age comes responsibility, but that doesn’t mean punk rock parents can’t still rage.
Paint It Black returns with a new, six-song EP and a few more family members, brandishing a belief decrying the idea that punks can’t age properly.
As they say on No Idea Records’ website: “It’s about the compromises we refuse to make, but also about the subtle negotiations between ideals/aspirations and day-to-day pragmatics.”
For the uninitiated, Paint It Black is a hardcore punk band that’s been around for a while, made up of four men from a bunch of punk bands that are or were around for a while. These Philly four have maintained their edge, and these six songs are about as harsh, bare-bones, DIY punk as it gets.
“The album is a dead format for us. This is complete,” frontman Dan Yemin said to Brooklyn Vegan about “Invisible,” and that holds true. The EP runs a shade under 11 minutes, but that brief time is furious and frenzied.
Addressing pretension and encouraging effort, Yemin is constantly on the attack with what he says and how he shouts it, supported by music that adds exponentially to his bite. Paint It Black is here to throw haymakers, with subtlety checked at the door.
Moments like the nigh-theatric ending of “Headfirst” and the kinetic, disjointed structure of intro “Greetings, Fellow Insomniacs” are gratifying examples of the good work provided. Paint It Black isn’t reinventing any wheels, but they have them rolling smoothly here.
In the same interview, Yemin reveals why he’s still as full of both hope and anger as he once was: “The political songs are about imagining and building a better world for my kids.” Perhaps that’s why it’s so satisfyingly brief and angry—there’s no time to mess around.