ALBUM REVIEW: Nothing – Dance On The Blacktop

Relapse Records

Released: 24.08.18

On album three, Nothing have taken their established sound – dream pop, played with the kind of crunching force and gloomy intensity you might expect of a band with extensive history in the hardcore scene – and buffed it up even further, pushing past shoegaze into firmly alt. rock territory.

Indeed, it’s when the band embrace their inner Smashing Pumpkins that Dance On The Blacktop works best, as on the churning drag of I Hate The Flowers or the dizzy lilt of Plastic Migraine. The repetitive arrangements can sometimes prove an issue (and by accident or design, Us/We/Are has emerged as a fairly unnecessary Creep re-write), but at its finest, Dance On The Blacktop is the band’s best balance of beauty and brutality yet.