Album Notes

The United Sons of Toil are a collective deeply rooted in the grinding noise and math rock that bubbled up from the Midwest during the mid '90s. This is not suggest that the Sons are a retro band in any sense, simply that the hoarse vocals, guitar damage, starts and stops, and sometimes-convoluted arrangements and time signatures hark back to a time when labels like Touch and Go, AmRep, and Dischord lorded over the indie-rock landscape.

A number of other influences rear their ugly heads during the course of "...Lions...," notably the angular post-hardcore of outfits like Hoover and Unwound as well as the decidedly socialist bent of the sparse lyrics. As the record progresses more textures and guitarscapes are added borrowing some of the production aesthetic of the current crop of epic post-metal bands (Isis, Mouth of the Architect).

"Until Lions Have Their Historians, Tales of the Hunt Shall Always Glorify the Hunter" is the Sons' second manifesto -- a document of eight pummeling and abrasive songs that rail against the exploitation of indigenous peoples.

RIYL: Tar, Unwound, Shellac, The Jesus Lizard, Hoover, Young Widows