GRAY MATTER - Thog

Artist:  Gray Matter
Album:  Thog
Year:  1992
Genre:  Punk / Alternative

This album is a touch of a mystery to me.  Not for anything trivial such as the origin of the band, how they recorded it or song meanings.  What I don’t understand is Dischord Records and what they choose to repress.  Thog by Gray Matter is easily one of the best post-Dag Nasty/Fugazi releases on Dischord, and yet they keep it out of print and continue press the band’s earlier releases, which are good, yet, don’t come close to the greatness of this record.  I suppose if demand means anything, people probably request the more “punk” album by this unique band and not the album people should be begging to hear.  It’s also a mystery to me as to why this record is one of the more overlooked releases on that label.  I suppose I'm just easily baffled.

Washington DC’s Gray Matter existed on and off for close to a decade and released 2 full lengths and few EPs and 7”s.  The early years of the band saw them trying to combine the dense, vibrant influence of the DC hardcore scene and an overshadowed, more refined, style that would ultimately become the soundtrack for their final release.  What Thog lacks in youthful, inexperienced punk energy it more than makes up for in style, personality and songwriting.  The album flows with a slightly schizophrenic demeanor with its pace, angst, tenor and volume.  Gray Matter gives the listener room to breathe on this record and doesn’t try to compress everything into three-minute blasts to the senses.  The songs are entities unto themselves, with melody and innovation being the standout factors; which makes giving a overly-detailed review of the record difficult.  Saying the band is all over the place is accurate, but they never take the listeners so far out into the weeds that they lose them on the journey.  On this record, Gray Matter could be called punk, pop, alternative, indie and even 90s emo.  Some of that terminology might be taken in a negative way, but this band takes the best of all those genres and compiles them into a phenomenal record.

Listen to "Drain" here.