Through a Wall

*Through a Wall* opens with the sound of rapturous, arena-sized applause. But the rock-star reverie is rudely interrupted by a voice blurting “shut up”—and we’re instantly hurtled back into London, Ontario, punks Single Mothers’ familiarly dank universe via the sludgy pummel of “Marathon.” Even coming from a band whose most charismatic quality has always been their crankiness, *Through a Wall* is an unrelentingly surly record: The grime-coated production and murderous hardcore energy give frontman Andrew Thomson’s ravaging rants an even more serrated age on blitzkrieg strikes like “Dog Parks” and “Catch & Release.” However, momentary relief from the onslaught arrives in the form of “Stoic / Pointless,” a lost-youth lament that dials down the velocity but greatly increases the emotional wallop.

Or at very least, the Drew Thomson who goes into the studio when he makes an album with his band Single Mothers doesn't sound like he's especially comfortable with the world in which he lives.

For a band like Single Mothers, the space between too little and too much is where their music has thrived; they're self-aware enough to sel...