Discord Down Under

Melbourne's the Drones are much more turbulent than their moniker suggests. The band steers clear of warmly humming songs, embarking instead on a noisy, energetic amalgam of the styles cultured by fellow countrymen like the Dirty Three and the Birthday Party. Whether frontman Gareth Liddiard is singing about Australia's past atrocities or savage affairs of the heart, he howls his lines as though the words are barbed and their extraction causes physical pain. His fellow band members are no less passionate in their performances, wrestling their instruments to produce feedback-spiked melodic guitar rock with bruising undercurrents.