Taking cues from Drive Like Jehu and the Hot Snakes, Jr Ewing plays visceral rock & roll that is physical and unrelenting. Ride Paranoia is no Nordic garage rock revival — it’s a wound-up and bursting-at-the-seems buzz of guitar rock, feedback, pounding beats, and screaming vocals. “Naked Pavements” cuts like Jawbox thrashing angularly over a buried melody and “Pre Summertime Blues” smashes and grooves with an energy worthy of At the Drive-In. “Sweet” is almost out of control enough to be the Locust but settles into a Blood Brothers or Refused-like unwieldiness. Jr Ewing might be a mainstay in its home of Norway, but can be considered one of the most formidable new groups to grace the United States in 2003. – Charles Spano
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