Months' Second Album Is Urgent, Unkempt Indie Rock

There’s a moment on Months’ new album Black Hats for War that epitomizes the Portland post-punk quartet.

That moment is a split second between songs. The album’s seventh track, “Golden,” spends 199 seconds building and building, from gently strummed guitar and whispered voice to a roar of thick, distorted riffs.

Then, with almost no break at all, the eighth track—a sub-two-minute punk blast called “Throat”—kicks in at top speed and volume. It’s such an abrupt beginning, it feels at first like your listening device of choice has malfunctioned and you’ve dropped into the middle of a song. It’s disorienting, but also a pleasant case of whiplash once you get your bearings.