Shark School’s debut has been a long time coming, but Selachimorpha confirms everything the band had already hinted at. The Galway trio deliver eight tracks of gritty garage-punk, black humour and pent-up rage, making it clear they have no intention of hiding their bite.
The album opens with an instrumental blast, “Chondrichthyes”, packed with distorted guitars, pounding drums and mounting tension, before giving way to “Shark Song”, which starts out restrained and ends up blowing itself apart. That balance between control and release becomes one of the album’s defining features. The band have said that their songs are born out of emotional turmoil before being refined through rehearsals and live shows, and that process is evident here: everything sounds impulsive, but nothing feels accidental.
Some songs dig into identity, comparison and self-imposed pressure, like “I’m A Sin”, while others turn anger into something almost physical, like “Gnashing Teeth”, where a hint of Rage Against The Machine is filtered through the band’s own instincts. “Don’t Trust A Man” is one of the album’s most direct and forceful moments, while “5AM” moves into darker, more vulnerable territory, caught between exhaustion, rage and a constant feeling of suffocation.
Nirvana’s influence is there, particularly in the way Shark School find melody inside the noise, while their blend of hardcore energy and alternative rock structures also brings bands like Die Spitz to mind. Still, Shark School never sound like a mere sum of their influences. Their own personality comes through clearly: sarcastic, chaotic, feminist and fully aware of the discomfort they want to provoke. It is also clear that the Galway music scene, with spaces such as the Róisín Dubh and Strange Brew, has played a key role in shaping a band that thrives on live performance and on the friendship between its three members.
The closing track, “When I See Her”, does not aim for a dramatic finale, but for something closer to a hangover. There is no wound to heal, and the song does not pretend otherwise. All that remains is a ghostly weariness, the moment when anger fades and everything falls silent.
The strength of Selachimorpha lies precisely in its refusal to make discomfort more palatable. This furious, funny and cathartic debut firmly establishes Shark School as one of the most intriguing bands to emerge from Ireland’s underground music scene in recent years.
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