{"id":7500,"date":"2026-04-08T00:47:35","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T00:47:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/08\/commitment-fear-of-album-review-paste-magazine\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T00:47:35","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T00:47:35","slug":"commitment-fear-of-album-review-paste-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/08\/commitment-fear-of-album-review-paste-magazine\/","title":{"rendered":"Commitment, 'Fear Of' Album Review – Paste Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tati Salazar wanted to make <\/span>scary bitch music<\/span><\/a>\u2014music that\u2019s loud and confrontational and holds nothing back, music that helps itself to the blood in your ears with full fists, music that takes all the world\u2019s the pain and violence and despair and spits it right back with a devious, fanged grin. This description is lightyears away from Salazar\u2019s soft-spoken folk solo music as Le Siren.  Having only been familiar with Salazar\u2019s vocals and songwriting as the lead vocalist in Commitment after hearing the band\u2019s 2025 demo tape, I was shocked by how angelic their non-screaming singing voice is: lush against curtains of violin, banjo, and cello. While 2019\u2019s <\/span>Take Care of Yourself<\/span><\/i><\/a> was certainly no stranger to grief and sorrow, something else was bubbling underneath the record\u2019s placid confessionals\u2014a storm that could no longer be suppressed or turned inward, a building rage that needed somewhere to explode. <\/span>
Enter Pierce Jordan, veteran of the Philadelphia hardcore scene and frontman of one of the city and genre\u2019s <\/span>most singular contemporary bands<\/span><\/a>. When forming Commitment, Jordan took a backseat\u2014behind the drum kit, that is\u2014and recruited guitarist Jake Smith and bassist Zach \u201cZeeb\u201d Bailey. Salazar joined Commitment as lead vocalist and co-songwriter with no prior experience performing heavy music, a fact that\u2019d come as a shock to any listener. The way they scream on the group\u2019s perfectly-titled debut, <\/span>Fear Of<\/span><\/i>, that shit sounds like second nature. <\/span>
There\u2019s a muscle memory to Salazar\u2019s vocals that almost eschews performance, to the point that their delivery often sounds involuntary, truly tortured. Their arid howl of \u201cdraining me of my liiiiiiiiife\u201d on opener \u201cThirsty\u201d sounds forced out of Salazar by the boot on their neck, and you hear it press down harder each time the line gets repeated. \u201cHellraiser\u201d is Salazar at their most instinctual-sounding\u2014their repeated refrain of \u201cI\u2019m on your ass, bitch\u201d never comes out the same way twice, while the instrumentals sound like a cartoon fight, a whirling electron cloud of punches and kicks. Guttural \u201cha ha ha\u201ds on \u201cPluto in Aquarius\u201d tumble from their throat somewhere between a villainous cartoon chuckle and the bark of a wounded animal. \u201cSTD\u201d (which here, stands for \u201cSend The Deposit\u201d) flips between faux-flirty interjections feigning deference to a client and Salazar\u2019s desperate internal monologue (\u201cI need a \/ quick buck \/ quick fuck\u201d). <\/span>
Salazar\u2019s own experiences with sex work serve as inspiration for much of their songwriting on <\/span>Fear Of<\/span><\/i>, and they sing about it with the bluntness of someone who doesn\u2019t have time to worry about succumbing to its stigmas or dressing it up as something glamorous and sensationalized. \u201cEvery time you see someone on a pole in a music video, it\u2019s not a stripper,\u201d Salazar said in an interview with Raeghan Buchanan. \u201cIt\u2019s a famous fucking pop star that has never had to dance on in their fucking life for survival.\u201d There is no luxury here, only basic need. Chainsaw riffs meet Salazar\u2019s snarl exactly where it\u2019s at on \u201cBukkakracy,\u201d a minute-long ripper that tears into hypocrites who hold more contempt for sex workers trying to survive a dangerous, oppressive system than for the billionaire traffickers whose pockets are lined with their tax dollars. <\/span>
On <\/span>Fear Of<\/span><\/i>, violence and vulgarity are for the people. Singles \u201cDOG POUND\u201d and \u201cHard Candy\u201d play out revenge fantasies through scenes of domination. Salazar motor-mouthing \u201che likes to watch, he\u2019s such a fucking cuck \/ lock him in his cage, rub it in his face\u201d on \u201cHard Candy\u201d is, to put it plainly, hard as fuck\u2014as is their morphing the last syllable of \u201cdenial\u201d into the word \u201cyell.\u201d \u201cDOG POUND\u201d is even more vicious, with its cutting cymbal crashes. \u201cCastration ain\u2019t working \/ I gotta put him down!\u201d Salazar shrieks, at precisely the moment on <\/span>Fear Of <\/span><\/i>where I decided I\u2019ve gotta see Commitment live, if only to find out what kinds of mosh calls Salazar\u2019s shouting out. There\u2019s a complete lack of inhibition and judgment on these songs, a freedom that comes from realizing that as someone who already exists on the margins of society\u2014 in Salazar\u2019s case, as a Black person, a queer person, a feminine person, an anticapitalist, and a sex worker\u2014the powers that be will vilify you no matter what. You might as well do whatever the fuck you want, they\u2019ll find something to hate about you regardless. \u201cIf you can\u2019t be a good example,\u201d they roar at the breakdown, \u201cbe a horrible one.\u201d<\/span>
\u201cAffirmative Action\u201d skewers white entitlement with a barrage of blast beats building to an electric affirmation: \u201cI know my purpose \/ I\u2019m not here by mistake.\u201d The chant that follows\u2014\u201cI want it \/ I want it \/ I claim it \/ I got it\u201d is both an indictment of those allowed to grow up believing everything is theirs for the taking and a victory cry for those who have to fight for it\u2014and get ridiculed when they do. The twisted hierarchies of capitalism and colonialism are designed to protect those who sit on empires of theft and make criminals of the people they steal from. \u201cPluto In Aquarius\u201d bludgeons for two minutes straight; Salazar\u2019s throat sounds like it\u2019s getting ripped right out when they scream \u201cI\u2019M DONE,\u201d reminding us that it\u2019s far from over\u2014both the anguish of a life under the boot and the collective struggle for something better. You can\u2019t opt out of oppression, but when they\u2019ve taken everything, there\u2019s nothing left to lose and nothing to do but fight back. <\/span>[Get Better Records]<\/b>
Grace Robins-Somerville is a writer from Brooklyn. Her work has appeared in<\/i><\/b> Pitchfork, Stereogum, The Alternative, ANTICS, Marvin, Swim Into The Sound <\/b>and her \u201cmostly about music\u201d newsletter,<\/i><\/b> Our Band Could Be Your Wife<\/b><\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n

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