It’s fitting that as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of Green Day’s album Dookie, a band has come along that matches their ability to mix aggressive guitars and pretty melodies together to make music that appeals to audiences that would otherwise not give “grunge” a second thought. Slothrust isn’t a new band out of Brooklyn, but you probably haven’t heard of them yet. With Of Course You Do, I think that’s all about to change.

Based on what I’d heard before listening to it myself, I expected the record to be a little MORE aggressive than it is. Leah Wellbaum’s guitar comes and goes in manic frenzies throughout the record, at times so blistering you may have to turn the volume down a bit for fear your ears will start bleeding.

The band functions just as well when they slow it down. On the song “No Eye Candy,” Will Gorin’s restraint on the drums makes the song far more interesting than if he had been going full steam ahead the whole time. And when his kit does eventually erupt it’s a huge jolt of energy that sends the song into another gear. There is also a pretty good R.E.M. reference in the song, I think.

The single they released, “Crockpot,” has one of my favorite lines in a while. “I like cats. Do you like cats? Of course you do, you sassy motherfucker.” It seems like nonsense, but in the context of the song it works really well. The song also displays a lot of what makes Of Course You Do such a good listen. A pretty, but dark, opening with guitar and bass leads into Wellbaum singing about men that buy Real Dolls to fill the void. The verse ends with a burst of drums and guitar before slowing down again. And on at goes, switching up the dynamic without a moment’s notice.

The album isn’t out for a couple more weeks, but it is definitely worth picking up when it does. If you’re in New York you can catch a release show on February 21st at Shea Stadium in Brooklyn. They currently have a handful of east coast dates after that, leading up to their performance at SxSw in March. You can pre-order Of Course You Do from Ba Da Bing Records.