The Eternal

The final studio album in Sonic Youth’s three-decade career, The Eternal is an unusually explosive swan song. Not since Dirty had the band crafted such a consistently punchy collection. With Pavement bassist Mark Ibold providing extra ballast, the crunchy opener “Sacred Trickster” heralds the barrage of high-powered riffage found in “Poison Arrow”, “Calming the Snake” and the muscular “No Way”. Kim Gordon sounds especially unbridled on “Anti-Orgasm”, a psych-garage stormer that adds yet more force to Sonic Youth’s grand finale.