The clues are pieces that vocalist Dara Kiely, guitarist Alan Duggan Borges, bassist Daniel Fox, and drummer Adam Faulkner have salvaged from their own lives. The erratic beats carry weight alongside the highlights of old cartoons, biblical allusions, and multifaceted personhood, shifting form with each one, from amusingly odd to sneakily raw.

The opener “The Angelus” rings out on a droning guitar chord that hangs over most of the track while Kiely’s voice pierces through the riotous world around it. It’s cutthroat fun. It gets under the skin in an invigorating way, delivering cathartic doses throughout the album that keep practically anyone tuning in on edge, awaiting their next move. That energy carries into the single “Placeholder,” which packs some of Pugnello’s most surprising rhymes, wall-scratching noise, and vocal extremes, joining “Alogia” and “Giraffe” as a standout.

“Jacobsons” and “The Megazord” sit at the midpoint of Pugnello. On “Jacobsons,” the vocal glitches turn a bit electronic and match the bassline, while “The Megazord” teeters between unassuming relatability and blatant confusion, the two working hand in hand. Across its 42 minutes, Pugnello doesn’t build to a single peak. It can feel like sinking into an abyss of layered repetition, though its rave-like punk bursts never let the album lose its footing. “Crisp Pop” is a prime example of how Gilla Band pull an entranced fan out of that hypnotic state every few seconds. “At the Gallop” closes out in a heavy place, a dynamic final word that brings Pugnello together.

Gilla Band have earned their place as forebears and game-changers within the scene. Pugnello keeps that momentum going.

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