Endurance is everything in the narrow, masochistic context of young American malehood. How much suffering can you stand before crying or passing out? How long can you grind your board on that rail? How long can you keep that bong smoke in your lungs? Well, gird thy loins: The folks are out of town, the fridge is stocked with Jolt, and Mindflayer drummer Brian Chippendale and guitarist Mat Brinkman are your mean, bored older brothers. It's Always 1999 finds the pair simultaneously showing off and testing your threshold for sonic agony. How long can they keep punching you in the same spot on your right arm, and how much can you take before you break away or gnaw off your throbbing limb instead? You may have to, because Mindflayer can pour it on for over an hour -- that is, if it is a monotonous, 23-part, midtempo, jackhammer shoot-'em-up attack that makes Lightning Bolt, Chippendale's better-known crank-pipe duo, sound even more exhilarating by comparison. The brutal, pogo-stick fury displayed here isn't varied enough to make the song titles or the songs themselves worth spotlighting, but as endurance tests go, It's Always 1999 is a doozy.
