Easy Pain

At full-length number four, Young Widows show no sign of relenting. Still present are monolithic drums and monstrous riffs that, despite their size, manage to balance distorted grandeur and pop sensibility. Singer/guitarist Evan Patterson is as noisy a guitarist as ever, and here seems to rely a bit more on delay and sampling effects, or at least used a bit more assertively. His singing seems to grow increasingly more confident, which may be part and parcel to his time with Jaye Jayle or even Old Baby. Easy Pain seems like a successor less to Youth and Lightness and more like a matured, but still tense, follow-up to Old Wounds. As such, Young Widows have crafted an album that synthesizes their finer points into a cohesive, if intense, whole. In short: This album is badass.