In 2010, New York hardcore outfit End Of A Year changed things up a bit. Their third and last full-length album, “You Are Beneath Me,” showcased a stylistic change that was becoming less fast-paced hardcore and more mid-paced rock jams with yelled vocals. After its release, they decided to round up every session and touring musician they played with since their inception in 2003 and changed their name to Self Defense Family. Since then, they’ve released dozens of splits and EPs that have all lead up to their fourth full-length album (though first under their new moniker).

At first glance, “Try Me” immediately seems like it’s going to be a challenging listen. Running just over 80 minutes in length, it is more like Self Defense Family put together a rock opus of sorts. In a way, they sort of did, but only about half of its runtime is filled with music.

The album is split up into two parts: first, the music. Nine songs, ranging from three to ten minutes each. The opening track, “Tithe Pig,” comes in instantly with alternating drums, distorted guitar, and vocalist Patrick Kindlon asserting, “Remain here and keep watch with me.” The song continues from the perspective of a character who is trying to obsessively connect with someone that does not want to be obtained.

A few shorter but just as loud and poetic tracks follow, till we get to “Apport Birds,” which closes out side one of the music section’s first half. Kindlon pleads, “It’s not like you to go without me / It’s out of character to go without me,” and repeats this in many different ways, along with the song’s refrain: “I understand the pull of religion / when there’s a loss that won’t stop itching.” If there is one thing Kindlon is not on this album, it’s discreet or uplifting, and his delivery is perfectly reflected over the music.

“Aletta” opens up side two, and has maybe the only hopeful tone that Try Me has to offer. “Aletta, you have such nice skin,” confesses Kindlon, but his lust is quickly combatted by the following track, “Fear Of Poverty In Old Age.”

By far the angriest and most intense moment comes on the album’s closing track, entitled “Dingo Fence.” The lyrics, like most on this album and in Self Defense Family’s catalog, are a few repeated phrases that get altered slightly throughout the song. Kindlon begins by asking, “Do you live nearby? Maybe we could go to your place now,” and then repeating with the assertion, “Let’s go to your place now.” The middle section of the song is a repeated chant; “All the dumb cops they get what they want,” though prior to the phrase’s almost five-minute repetition, it is preceded by some more vulgar reinterpretations of the mantra.

The second part of this album is what makes “Try Me” stand out of any other rock or punk album I’ve ever heard. It is 37 minutes of what is reported to be a three hour interview with ‘80s adult film actress Angelique Bernstein, better known by her stage name Jeanna Fine. According to Try Me’s liner notes, Kindlon spent a year tracking her down so that he could interview her and write an album based on parts of her life.

Writing songs about other people has been an End Of A Year / Self Defense Family tradition since their first release, and they have written about people like Michael Larson (the record-breaking winner on Press Your Luck), Charles Rocket (a comedian and former “Saturday Night Live” castmate), and Emanuela Orlandi (a teenage girl who disappeared at the Vatican and her story remains unsolved).

The two interview pieces are spliced between the two halves of the album, though on the vinyl version of the release, the first LP contains the music and the second LP contains the interview tracks. The CD and digital track listing makes it feel like more of an adventure in a way, though the vinyl track listing makes the album a bit easier to digest.

Any way you take it in, “Try Me” is not only Self Defense Family’s most ambitious project, but one of the most ambitious punk and hardcore albums that have been released over the last decade. It’s certainly not for everybody. You’re either going to totally get it or be extremely personally offended by its execution of the content. For me personally, it’s an absolutely brilliant piece of art, and the first great rock album of 2014.