It’s been a long time since the saxophone was put to good use in punk rock: from the dance floor antics of England’s X-Ray Spex to the altered-state, art school punk of Tuxedomoon, those first-wave bands owned the punk sax sound for decades. But K-Holes’ Sara Villard is stepping up to take the mantle, and her brawny, aggressive playing is inarguably one of the New York group's most notable aspects. Former Black Lips member Jack Hines injects a crazed, psyched-out and freaked-out vibe with his barrage of distorted guitar and cracked howls, while his partner in grime Vashti Windish matches him with her own tortured rasp. Words like “dirge," “squall," and “sinister” come to mind as Dismania creeps along, with snatches of discernable lyrics pointing to themes of death, addiction, and squalor. Songs like “Nightshifter” and “Rats” have an undeniable pull, with tribal toms thumping and clanging, urgent guitars carving their way through the murk with a groove in tow. Not for the fainthearted, K-Holes take the edge of early Sonic Youth to another level, wringing more despair and angst out of their barely controlled chaos.