Consummate art punks, Young Widows combine the creepy intensity of the Birthday Party, the conceptual brutality of early Swans, and the avant discord of early-'90s "scum rock" (the Jesus Lizard et al.) with the try-anything approach of Black Dice and Liars.
Their second album, Old Wounds, explodes with overloaded basslines, assaultive vocals, and beyond-distorted guitars, but there's an underlying sense of control here (more obvious on some tracks than on others) that makes the crucial difference between static and statement.