Speak to enough musicians in the underground who favor the sonically depraved, and you might hear word of two New Yorkers, who emerge now and then from the doldrums of normal life to unleash their unique brand of sonic chaos upon the unsuspecting masses. I’m talking, of course, about The Austerity Program, the criminally underrated duo of Justin Foley and Thad Calabrese who have delivered some of the greatest noise rock records of the 2000s. Their signature sound of “Big Black meets unhinged mathy industrial” has always been simultaneously entertaining and hideous to behold, but it was 2019’s Bible Songs 1 that took them to another level. The Austerity Program’s songs have always unfolded like twisted fables, but with Bible Songs, their subject matter took on a new gravitas, as the duo rendered the darkest moments of the Old Testament in their sardonic snarl. Bible Songs 1 is a stunning synthesis of literature and music that gives me chills with each listen, so 6 years after the fact, I was a little apprehensive about its sequel being able to live up to my expectations. Bible Songs 2 not only meets them, but exceeds them.
Each song on Bible Songs 2 adapts short Old and New Testament passages, turning some of the Bible’s darkest verses into miniature noise-rock payloads, modernizing the language and maximizing each piece’s impact with deranged noise-rock instrumentation. Foley’s acerbic spoken delivery covers verses about the vicious destruction and suffering of Jerusalem during the Babylonian siege (“Lamentations 4:7—11”), the condemnation of man by God for his failures (“Joshua 7:6—26”), and the ultimate biblical reckoning at the end of days (“Revelation 8:7—13”). Each line is spewed with a sort of sarcastic vitriol that at once recognizes the horror of its subject matter, while also poking fun at its absurdity. Individual lines alternate between exaggerated humor, 1 and cosmic consequence. 2 Through it all, Foley’s personality and keen sense of phrasing contribute to no shortage of incredibly memorable couplets that have stuck with me all year since I first heard them.
Bible Songs 2 features exclusively guitar, bass, and a drum machine, yet The Austerity Program uses this sparse palette to create expansive canvases that both excite and disturb. Calabrese’s bass provides the record’s most recognizable element, a chunky, mid-pushed growl reminiscent of imperial-era Ministry or The Jesus Lizard, forming the backbone of most songs alongside the band’s signature drum machine grooves. That drum machine feels uncanny in its force and precision, functioning less like traditional percussion and more like an inhuman engine driving each track forward. Foley’s guitar operates primarily as a shrill, siren-like effect, recontextualizing riffs, adding rhythmic accents, and pushing the music into the liminal space between noise and composition. These elements converge across six tracks built on hypnotic, repeating rhythms that expand and contract between subdued chaos and total aural devastation. “Judges 19:22—29” and “Luke 3:4—9” exemplify this, but there are also more even-tempered pieces like the bass-led “Joshua 7:6—26,” the slow-build of “Zephaniah 3:1—7,” or the sonic journey of “Lamentations 4:7—11.” This is all in preparation for the closer “Revelation 8:7—13,” whose urgent tremolo riffs, inhuman snare patterns, and final burst of dissonance convincingly soundtrack the end of days. 3
Bible Songs 2 is an absolute triumph of a record. It builds on the immense strengths The Austerity Program has demonstrated in the past and weaponizes their unique brand of unsettling noise rock for a set of timely compositions that showcase just how powerful the combination of music and a fully-realized subject matter can be. It’s one of my favorite records of the year, and I’ll be quoting notable lines and blasting it for years to come.
Tracks to Check Out: “Lamentations 4:7—11,” “Judges 19:22—29,” “Joshua 7:6—26,” “Revelation 8:7—13”
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