Review
Summer Cannibals
Show Us Your Mind

New Moss Records (2015) Loren

Summer Cannibals – Show Us Your Mind cover artwork
Summer Cannibals – Show Us Your Mind — New Moss Records, 2015

I know I’d already read the band’s bio, but I think I would have guessed Pacific Northwest anyway. There’s just something dreary and with a bi to’ sunshine about Summer Cannibals. Just like their name, it’s a mix of positive and desperate, with a genre tag somewhere in the vein of grunge-pop.

It’s the Portland, OR band’s second full-length and the songs are all built around pop structures that are then deconstructed via choppy pessimism. The songs are catchy in the right places, with positive vibes and visions of sugarplums in our heads, but they really walk a darker path whenever that musical refrain isn’t on repeat. “Summer” is the most evident of this, even dropping in some “ah-ah-ah’s.” Instead of jangly guitar, it’s always a grunge-style riff-base that makes it chunkier and less, well, sunny, though it comes closest on this track. In “Something New” there is a manic energy at play, but it has a dark touch that counters the energy. The final song, “TV,” is a solid example of where the band steps away from convention. It’s a riffy ballad-type song but instead of building the momentum or drama, it plods and chops, morose lyrical delivery atop more sunny guitars. In the end, the vocals draw into a monotone and the song fades out of consciousness at the end, an ending that doesn’t feel like one.

Both “TV” and “Make You Better” are good examples of the band’s weakness, which is that the repetition and the general tone can get a bit overdone. The melody of “Make You Better” is powerful and hooky, but over 2:40 it loses that edge and goes on too long without bring anything new to the table, the repetition drowning a forward-moving melody. Likewise in “TV”, when it drifts into abyss after three and-a-half minutes, the record quietly end without recognition. A little more dynamic play would go a long ways. Still, Show Us Your Mind is a pleasing and generally enjoyable album more often than not.

7.0 / 10Loren • April 20, 2015

Summer Cannibals – Show Us Your Mind cover artwork
Summer Cannibals – Show Us Your Mind — New Moss Records, 2015

Related news

Summer Cannibals' Jessica Boudreaux solo EP

Posted in Records on May 14, 2022

New news about Summer Cannibals

Posted in Bands on April 6, 2019

Solo LP from Summer Cannibals' Jessica Boudreaux

Posted in Records on September 24, 2017

Advertisement

DCxPC 2025

Recently-posted album reviews

Detention

Dead Rock ‘N’ Rollers
Left For Dead Records (2024)

Life ain’t so easy in the detention home- Dead Boys. Emerging from the underbelly of Jersey, made up primarily of three brethren. Raised on rock and roll and sipping from the chalice of early punk rock stalwarts like Da Bruddahs from Queens, Hey Ho! and the Pistoleros of Sexual Nature screaming banshees from across from the large pond. Thus forging … Read more

Nightfreak

Nightfreak
Big Neck Records (2024)

Semi-feral punk outfit NightFreak are back with a self-titled LP filled with breakneck riffs and 70s metal bombast. The Chicago group haven’t slowed down since 2022’s Speed Trials but they have filled out. NightFreak the album is lousy with warm back beats and melodic guitars; although, hardcore vocals and tight drums still reign supreme. Album opener “Blackout” is dead serious … Read more

Death By Unga Bunga

Raw Muscle Power
Jansen Records (2025)

I’m pretty sure I became aware of Mike Krol when The Whiffs posted about playing some shows with him. Krol is a bit of an anomaly. Not only is he on Merge and collaborates with Mac Superchunk- a dream scenario imo- but he’s also been elusive of my fan boy attempts at cold dm’ing him about stuff even tho we … Read more