Hygiene
Hygiene is short, loud and surprisingly easy to get into. Drug Church fit ten songs into a compact album, using rough vocals and sharp guitar parts without losing the pull of a good chorus. The music sits between hardcore, alternative rock and punk, with enough melody to bring listeners in before Patrick Kindlon's voice starts working at the edges.
That contrast is the record's main strength. The guitars can sound bright while the singing stays coarse and impatient. Kindlon writes about adult frustrations and people trying to deal with situations they do not fully control. There is humour in the blunt delivery, but the songs also leave space for vulnerability. The combination makes the album feel more human than a simple burst of aggression.
Million Miles of Fun turns the exhausting flow of bad news into a direct, hook-heavy track. Detective Lieutenant gives the bass and cleaner guitar tones useful space before the chorus arrives with more force. The changes are clear rather than complicated, and the song shows how much weight the band can put behind a melody without making it smooth or comfortable.
Elsewhere, Plucked brings a more jagged rhythm and restless guitar noise. Tiresome moves in with a harder attack, while Piss & Quiet works through stop-start riffs that keep the short format lively. Athlete on Bench lets its churning groove run a little longer at the end. It gives the record a firm closing point without turning into a large, separate finale.
Hygiene does not offer a huge range of moods. The grain of Kindlon's voice stays central, and listeners who prefer clean singing may find that difficult to move past. Some of the songs also depend on the same basic tension between an inviting guitar line and an abrasive vocal. The brief running time helps keep that approach from wearing thin.
Drug Church make the most of those limits. The arrangements are direct, the rhythm section keeps the songs moving, and the hooks do not weaken their rough character. Hygiene is an effective entry point for anyone who likes melody with some friction around it. It gets its ideas across quickly, then leaves enough behind to make another play appealing.
