How ironic that Static Dress are one of the handful of bands you have to obsess over to be welcomed among the ‘alternative’ influencer glitterati. With their phones-free shows, multiple redux albums and survival horror games built around their music, you’d think people would take the hint that there’s an artistic streak evocative of more than soundtracking a GRWM. Even if these are just ways of drumming up traffic, same as everyone else, at least it’s prioritising the art. It’s not just teaser after teaser built for an engorged viral moment that, in all likelihood, won’t be worth it in the end. (Probably good that they ditched the ‘masked guitarist’ thing before it became the bar-none worst gimmick in the scene, then.)
As if to hammer that in even further, Injury Episode almost feels like Static Dress’ response to the culture that’s been thrust upon them. Naturally, its telling is more artful, realised through the concept of a pair of celebrity twins hounded and harrassed until the day they die. Thus, it’s not framed as a ‘the dangers of fame’ thing; that’s too glib. Rather, it’s crafted to where every consequence of being a public figure is made to look nightmarish, especially in how songs like Nostalgia Kills and Male-bomb threaten to go off the rails entirely. It’s illustrated all the more plainly in the artwork—the subject is sallow and unfeeling, as a microphone and camera are shoved through a limo window into their face, in total violation of them as an actual person.
It also helps Static Dress a lot when the most recent, prominent parallel is Sleep Token’s Caramel. In its critique of zealotic fans, it can’t risk being too confrontational, and any chastisement is swallowed by their own yawning homogeneity. Static Dress, on the other hand, have no such compunctions to making themselves more ‘agreeable’. The 2000s post-hardcore and screamo revivalism they’re built on wouldn’t take to that in the first place. Injury Episode is completely its own beast, lashing and writhing and slicing in whatever ways it deems fit and advantageous.
Even as songs like Adapter, …hospice and Treading lean towards bigger, emo-informed melody, it’s entirely purposeful. These aren’t grasps for a hit; they genuinely belong among Static Dress’ oeuvre. If anything, they can be critical in fleshing it out even further, like in Adapter’s revelation of how possible a true-blue key-change is. Musically, …hospice and Treading have more than a shade of prime Funeral For A Friend to them, while the biggest left turn in Adult Diamond is almost indebted to the likes of Silversun Pickups, filled with choppy guitars and languid, gauzy ripples of atmosphere.
The real root of Injury Episode, though, is Static Dress leaning into the fearlessness that their serrated edges will cultivate. It’s the sign of as great a creative force as they are, when capitulation to any desires other than their own is fully off the table. Olli Appleyard’s vocals clinch that on their own, as the linchpin of Static Dress’ ethos of release. All at once, he’s stark, vital, robust and eclectic, evoking Daryl Palumbo or a gnarlier Jason Butler with ease. (Male-bomb’s chorus is particularly glassjaw-esque in that respect.) Even in that short-fused mode, there are some real bangers to be mined, as well. Pharmacy Film, lip critic and human props would sit proudly among the 2000s’ post-hardcore all-stars, barely needing much of an update to be just as cutting today.
More impressive still is the extent to which these songs are elevated by their production. Drums could maybe feel a crank or two tighter at times; otherwise, Injury Episode is fully in on driving itself in as deeply as possible. The Underøath assist on Nostalgia Kills isn’t imperative, but it doesn’t hurt its gnashing flurries of unadulterated vitriol, either. For an even more violent turn, there’s Classic.Death.Pose, toeing the line between Static Dress’ usual barely-contained discord and a heavy that’s even more cavernous. It’s impressive how even these turns land with just as much consideration. Even if they aren’t entirely up to the same level (like how dull blade disguise’s guitars grapple rather than cut), Static Dress are canny enough to never leave themselves with an outright dud, or anything that could even be misconstrued as one, honestly.
By the end of it, you’ve got one of the most combustible post-hardcore albums to be released this year, consistently impressing with every new spin. It’s a product of creative independence that’s second-to-none. Static Dress do feel like their own entity, vastly more so than a lot of the scene ‘titans’ they’ve been lumped in with. They’re such a different animal, one with teeth and talons and an insatiable need to attack with complete and utter efficiency. Right now, Injury Episode is the best example possible of heavy music finding its audience entirely off its own merits and ethos, and that deserves to celebrated to no end.
For fans of: glassjaw, Thursday, Underøath
‘Injury Episode’ by Static Dress is out now on Sumerian Records.
Words by Luke Nuttall
