True North - Somewhat Similar
No Idea 156
Released: March 17, 2004
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Now available on BLUE vinyl!!

TRUE NORTH return with their follow-up to 2003’s “Put Your Nightlife Where Your Mouth Is” 12” and 2000’s “We Speak In Code” LP/CD!

"Somewhat Similar" finds TRUE NORTH pushing the limits of their distinctive sound, once dubbed "the future of hardcore" by
MAXIMUMROCKNROLL! The music pulses and builds, creating a fluctuating structure, capable of unexpected twists. Details
come through without drowning in the din; woven through melodic passages, invovative drumming, and a blend of powerhouse guitars.

Dave Diem- bass, vocals
Ryan Murphy - guitar, vocals
Mark Rodriguez - drums
Matt Sweeting - guitar, vocals

Recorded May 2003 - December 2003
by Rob McGregor at Goldentone Studios

1. Hey, Let's Spend The Night Together*
2. You J.O.J. or F.O.B.?
3. Right Church, Wrong Pew
4. The Hot Hand
5. Let's Get Past That
6. Summer Lovin'
7. Single Fin Mentality
8. The Chair Sued The Chamber

*click to hear!


Here's what some other folks had to say!

ALTERNATIVE PRESS (Rating: 4/5) / "Somewhat Similar" / True North combine FUGAZI’s dissonant dischord with the listenable songs BLACK FLAG wrote during their "My War" era to come up with a shifting sound that, refreshingly, has absolutely nothing in common with their often imitated brethren, Hot Water Music. True North’s music ain’t always pretty; but when bassist Dave Diem repeats the phrase, "We know we’ll always be unglued and that’s okay," like a mantra over a fractured dub riff on the album’s final song "The Chair Sued The Chamber" you’ve gotta believe him—and, really, what more can you ask for? -Jonah Bayer  

SPANK FANZINE / "We Speak in Code" / A hectic blend of noisy guitars, crashing drumbeats, and screaming vocals that have some real finesse. Putting their own twist on influences like UNWOUND or BORN AGAINST with a load of pent-up enthusiasm and energy, TRUE NORTH deliver eleven songs that bend and writhe, harboring a lunacy that is put to good use.  

UK COLLECTIVE online (Rating: 8/10) / TRUE NORTH & RED SCARE split / This is mid-90’s-style chaotic hardcore charged with personal politics. "It’s 3am Do You Know Where Your Ballot Box Is?" was written with the US general elections in mind; about getting people within the scene who have strong opinions to actually try and do something constructive, rather than simply have some radical opinion and do nothing with it: "We can put into action all our complaints, or continue talking out of our asses". Musically, it’s a KO blast  to the face in the vein of a long ASSFACTOR 4 song. Throaty screamy vocals, and a relentlessly driving assault. A prime chaotic spazz-out for all the family. -Andy Malcolm.