A lot has built up inside of Will Burdette, principal singer and songwriter for indie outfit, the Tomatoes, since the release of the band’s second album, Trendy, roughly one year ago. Thankfully, he’s got an outlet for all of his pent up frustrations. Teeming with angst, abnegation, and a predisposition towards desolation, the group’s third album, Divisionism, finds them ruminating on the ethos of post-punk and grunge.

“I think I’ll live and die in the city,” Burdette spews across the streaks of “Vendetta” before the angry noise-rocker meagerly transforms into a riff-heavy grunge chorale. The song, much like the album, is a herky-jerky ride that recollects such icons as the Pixies, the Afghan Whigs, Sonic Youth, and Pearl Jam—sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. Though uneven, when Divisionism’s fragile emotions and frantic electricity converge, the results are both explosive and enigmatic (“Harvest,” “Automatik”), yet when they fail to intersect, the outcome is transparent and sounds rehashed (“When the Walls Come Down,” “Waves”).

After burrowing though a mountain of emotional wreckage,
Divisionism’s latter tunes surface to deliver a poignant catharsis. Following the ethereal instrumental, “M2M,” “The Futurist” unfolds from a lo-fi lament to a grandiose garage anthem highlighted by a gliding organ solo. “Death Ray Days,” the album’s final track, hits the bar with an intoxicating shot of Americana that rivals the antics of indie outlaws, the Hold Steady.

Erratic, emotional, and evocative, Divisionism captures the Tomatoes’ maturation as they come to terms with their sound and their existence as a band at a crucial juncture in their career. In the end, their mantra manifests itself: “Paranoia makes you stronger.”