One of the things that sets Vancouver’s Bison B.C. apart from their peers is their caustic, merciless vision. On their facebook page, they list their band interests as “getting up early and driving to a far away place hungover.” They write clearly and unflinchingly about the most grotesque moments of loneliness and loss, those moments when we aren’t crying pretty but reduced to a blubbering, sweat-soaked and snot-drenched mess. They pair this bleak clarity of lyric and concept with a crushingly heavy, concrete-boots tone and a scabby, crusty tone that crackles and smothers.

“Anxiety Puke/ Lovelessness” is a nine-minute semi-titular track that forms the core of their newest album, Lovelessness. Deeply involved in the aesthetics of the abject, this track is a tribute to loss and disgust. Guitarist/vocalist James Farwell wrote every song on the album, using Lovelessness to purge some of the emotion poison that had been swelling within him after a year that saw the death of friends and his beloved dog and the end of a long-term relationship. The rhythm recalls the sensation of muscles clenching in agony, and the riffs have a clutching, convulsive quality. Feverish and ugly, but also still powerful and defiant, “Anxiety Puke/ Lovelessness” is the definition of bloody yet unbowed.