Review: City Of The Weak- Pulling Teeth
September 4, 2018
Music is the truest form of art and emotion there is and rock music is notorious for combining the two. When it’s done right, it’s a beautiful thing and that’s exactly what City Of The Weak’s Pulling Teeth is.
With bands like Flyleaf evaporating into thin air and others like Paramore gravitating more toward the pop genre, there’s been room for a new band to take their spots and City Of The Weak have made a strong push and have made their name known with this record.
Songs like “Like I Do” have an early Paramore with a vibe that’s fast, poppy rock, to the point, and shows the band strong out of the gate
“Trust Nobody” has some awesome guitar work to start song and it continues to the end of the record. It’s a very personal track and is also a fuck you to anyone who’s screwed you over.
“Glad You Could Make It” is strong from the start- the opening guitar riff is memorable and the lyrics are in your face before taking you to “Not This Time,” which starts slow and haunting before quickly going down the musical road of the previous tracks.
This one is about standing your ground and not letting a bad relationship and abusive significant other keep hurting you
Then there’s songs like “Ungrateful,” “Drag Us Under,” “Suffer Like Me” and the Title Track, which all keep the same feeling throughout the record and showcase just how good of songwriters these guys really are.
Brent Lindblad’s guitar work is vastly underrated and it should be appreciated quickly while the vocals of Stef w/ an F’s lyrical prowess and insane vocals should make her one of the top singers in all of rock. Mix that with the rhythm section of Cody Hoffman on bass and Eric Somers-Urrea/Jason Hirt on drums and you have a purely lethal attack.
In the end, this is one of the strongest debuts in some time. The songs revolve around loss, breakup, redemption and recovery and it’s a record that almost anyone can relate to in some way.
Pulling Teeth is a record loaded with pure emotion and one that City Of The Weak should be more than proud of. If future releases are anywhere near as strong as their debut, City Of The Weak are here to stay and should be claiming a top spot quickly.
Rating: 9/10
-Reggie Edwards