Easy Pain

After making a creative breakthrough with 2011’s In and Out of Youth & Lightness, Young Widows continue the streak with dark and menacing but increasingly complex doom rock that returns to pure naked aggression on Easy Pain. Previous comparisons to The Jesus Lizard, Shellac, and The Melvins are actually sharpened here, with relentless songs such as “Kerosene Girl,” “Doomed Moon," and “Gift of Failure” forming a hardened metal core that leaves little room for subtlety, yet somehow sneaks a few dynamics into the highly compressed sound. Recorded with Kevin Ratterman (My Morning Jacket), Easy Pain makes the most of the trio’s advantages, offering up a dense, angry mix that manages to be cathartic as much as earth-shattering. No one will play songs like “Godman,” “Bird Feeder,” or “King Sol” quietly. Though the album technically ends with the Birthday Party–like “The Last Young Widow,” with rhythms so sharp they cut, the bonus tracks (“The Money” and “In My Living Room”) show a quieter side of the group, if such things are possible.