Hospital Grade
Written Axe to Trigger
(Urinine)
Written Axe to Trigger might not be as catchy as Hospital Grade’s debut EP Scrap is the Metal, Metal is the Weapon, but it still rocks in a disjointed punk way. The band never lets anyone get comfortable with a style or songwriting formula, opting to mix short, concise songs (a couple are barely a minute long) with ambitious, tempo-shifting arrangements like “Champion for Sympathy” and “I Think, Therefore They Are.” The result is a challenging, mostly satisfying album that improves with age.
—Chuck Teed
This article appears in Dec 6-12, 2007.