Adebisi Shank – This is the Second EP of a Band Called Adebisi Shank

Self-Released

About 16 or 17 years ago, I was sitting in my high school computer lab getting my world absolutely rocked as I listened to a collection of songs plainly titled “This is the EP of a Band Called Adebisi Shank.” It was one of the first times I’d ever heard real math rock – the Irish trio rendering a particularly hard-hitting take on the genre. For a style of music that can sound especially nerdy (granted, the name’s not helping), I found myself drawn in by how heavy Adebisi Shank sounded with beefed-up bass, frantic guitar tapping, and ceaseless drumming. 

I barely had any context for what I was hearing, but I knew it rocked. Somehow, the graph paper background on the EP’s cover art made sense, contextualizing the band’s bonkers time signatures as things to be measured against, toyed around with, blown apart, and pieced back together again. It makes sense then that the artwork for the group's first LP kept that same graph paper lining, but slashed a colorful tear right through the center; a further upending of what even their own music could be. 

After a trio of self-descriptive albums named “This Is the First/Second/Third Album of a Band Called Adebisi Shank,” respectively, the Irish rockers decided to put the project on ice in 2014. In the fall of 2024, a full decade after their departure, Adebisi Shank announced their revival with an Instagram post featuring typically straightforward language stating, “This is the return of a band called Adebisi Shank,” and promising both “New songs and new gigs.”

Now that promise has now come to fruition with a powerful four-pack of songs titled This is the Second EP of a Band Called Adebisi Shank. First there’s the opener, “Start A Band,” a guitar-led shredfest that sounds ready to soundtrack a Sonic level as buildings, cars, and other landmarks fly by at lightning-fast speed. “Gröss Magic” offers a temporary breather with a more stompy drum rhythm that gives the cymbals enough time to crash and ring out. 

In the back half of the release, “Orange Splash” leverages an assist from Yvette Young, with the Covet guitarist lending her renowned tapping to the group for a math rock teamup the likes of which I’ve never seen. Finally, “Turtle Bay” offers a groovy vocoder-based expansion of the group’s sound that acts as a transportive note to end things on. 

Once again self-releasing their music, it’s nice to have Adebisi Shank back, especially in this more bite-sized format that I first fell in love with. It’s funny that the second EP takes that same graph paper lining, turns it 45 degrees, and represents that same orderly grid as something entirely new. It may only be four tracks and twelve minutes long, but the energy, verve, and ideas on display throughout the Second EP of a Band Called Adebisi Shank prove that that can be enough. Sometimes all you need is ten years off and a handful of killer riffs to recapture that energy you always knew you had.