Review: Avenues – “We’re All Doomed”

Wiretap Records/SBÄM Records – 19 November 2021

Avenues more than make up for production delays on their killer debut full length.Two Words. Fast & Furious.

Avenues’ debut full length is too good to be lost in the Covid shuffle. It deserves a better fate. The Milwaukee quartet had been sitting on We’re All Doomed for quite a while before eventually putting it out digitally last November. The vinyl finally showed up in June. This follows the seven inch Postcards From Ann Arbor EP in 2013, and the ten inch Creep Show EP in 2015. 

Avenues walk the fine line between punk and pop punk, with enough grittiness and catchiness to make both camps happy. Several songs on We’re All Doomed are among the best I’ve heard recently. Opener “Blood on the Moon”, “Into the Catacombs”, “Starfighter”, “Lights Out”, the title track, and closer “Devious” are all stone cold killers. The smallest details on both the performances and production are pristine. Everything from the raspy lead vocals, to the dual guitars, to the tight-as-a-drum rhythm section, to the backing vocals are spot on.

Not surprisingly, We’re All Doomed can be deathly serious at times. It spends a fair amount of time lamenting our current political cultural climate. Avenues do manage to offset the occasional grimness with a few more lighthearted songs, mostly about boy losing girl. “Transistor Radio” and especially “Straight Jacket” do a nice job of breaking the tension. With 11 tracks in 23 minutes, We’re All Doomed is all killer no filler. If we are all in fact doomed, you should give Avenues a listen before we’re eviscerated. I bet you’ll love ‘em. 

For vinyl fiends: It may have taken way too long, but these records are worth the wait. The whole package is really nice. It’s available in beautiful orange or purple splatter 45 RPM 12 inch wax. The black and white comic book/horror artwork is fantastic too, and it also includes an insert with lyrics and an artist’s rendering of the band members’ heads.