Dial M for Meds, the fourth album from the New York City-based Taking Meds, arrived Friday, bringing with it a record of concise rock and roll tunes. The band’s full-length is now out via Smartpunk Records (M.A.G.S.).

There’s not an easier way to describe the record than that of pure rock descent. You’d be hard- pressed to find an instrument other than the two electric guitars, drums, bass and vocals.

This album never really slows down. There’s no mid-album acoustic fingerpicking speculation, no piano hooks or attempts at anything other than what remains. It’s clear that with Dial M for Meds, Taking Meds wanted to really just let it rip, and let it rip they did. While the gain on the
guitars and shouty vocals make the songs punch, their speeds ensure that it’s a breezy, fun listen.

A wordy one, too. The group tackles common issues for 20-somethings like feeling stuck in life or realizing that making dreams come true takes work. Take “Long Tooth,” for example. “I’m as free as a bird now if you want to know the truth/ Just an iron rooster spinning on a roof.” Some bird, huh? Rock and punk is best delivered in realistic, layman’s terms, and Taking Meds waste no words throughout this record.

They break the fourth wall, too, momentarily. In “Long Tooth” vocalist Skylar Sarkis sings “Just ‘cause it’s in the song it don’t mean it’s off my chest,” which is an incredible observation on the act of songwriting and how it can vary from person to person.

Taking Meds really nail it in “The Other End,” where the guitar interplay and vocal harmonies especially shine. It’s a song about putting the cart before the horse, spending so much time dreaming that the mission can be lost: “And I spent so much time/ waiting to be interviewed/ that I realized that I had nothing to tell you.” See also: “And the movie that I’ll make/ starring all of my friends/ it takes place where I grew up/ still in pre-production.”

This sense of listlessness and the abandonment of youth abandon are cast upon canvases of raw, carefully tamed and flawlessly played rock and roll, making Dial M for Meds an addition to a canon of well-trodden, yet never fully plundered ground.

order Dial M For Meds by Taking Meds HERE