Review: Militarie Gun’s ‘Life Under The Gun’

And that’s the contradiction of Militarie Gun. They’re a band that comfortably sits on the line-up for Manchester’s Outbreak Fest, alongside the likes of Converge and Bane, but whose new set of songs can channel Interpol-like guitar figures (‘Will Logic’) and the sort of delicate organ-led opening the Flaming Lips might use (‘See You Around’).

There’s also space on ‘Life Under The Gun’ for songs that hew closer to hardcore, such as its middle pair of ‘Think Less’ and ‘Return Policy’, at least until the latter undercuts its slowed down heaviness with some indie melody and quite lovely, if fleeting, backing vocal ‘oohs’.

Meanwhile, ‘Very High’ combines both sides of Militarie Gun’s character, welding insistent melodic hooks to an accessible mid-paced punk rocker as it tackles the desire to escape the embarrassment of day-to-day life and the narrator wrestles with something no one else sees.

Shelton’s own backstory, growing up in a household with family members struggling with addiction, adds further weight whenever the album touches on themes of trust, betrayal and loss. As the relatively plaintive ‘My Friends Are Having A Hard Time’ puts it: ‘How long before it fucks up and fails’?

The singer, whose other bands include the punishingly relentless Regional Justice Center, is convinced Militarie Gun has always been a “melody-forward band”. Now it sounds like he’s right. Alongside guitarists Nick Cogan and William Acuña, drummer Vince Nguyen and bassist Max Epstein, he and Militarie Gun have created a melodic post-hardcore masterpiece.