Everything is Not Going To be Alright.

Album: Keep Telling Myself It’s Alright
Artist: Ashes Divide
Genre: Alternative Rock
Year: 2008
Label: Island

I expected better from Billy Howerdel. First, a history lesson: Billy Howerdel was a guitar tech for TooL before he started collaborating with Maynard James Keenan to form A Perfect Circle. As the primary composer of that band, Howerdel backed Keenan’s unearthly vocals with equally celestial instrumentation. It seemed that the two of them created a perfect balance. Keenan’s performance is probably what drew most people to APC, but they stayed for Howerdel’s compositions. It seemed like he could do no wrong, creating everything from driving hard rockers to mournful symphonies of strings and guitars. Howerdel had a gift for the guitar, there is no question. The sound he made with an ax was like a bell tolling and its chords are what propelled me through my early high school years. After APC dissolved, I wondered what Howerdel would do next. Would he go back to guitar teching? Or would he form a new band? As it turns out, he did the latter, as Howerdel has returned to the music scene with his new band: Ashes Divide. While I knew that this new project wouldn’t be APC, I thought it had plenty of potential, and it saddens me to say that a lot of that potential is wasted.

Here’s the problem: the music feels recycled. With APC, Howerdel created some truly haunting soundscapes that would send shivers up your spine. A perfect example is “The Noose” from the APC album Thirteenth Step. The song builds slowly, beginning with just Howerdel’s chiming guitars. Then Maynards voice comes in and the atmosphere is set. It’s at one time one of the most beautiful and eeriest pieces Howerdel’s ever composed. With this new band, however, the normally haunting atmosphere sounds… too familiar. “A Wish” might have been a good song if it didn’t sound like I’d heard it before and better. The whole album has the feel of APC b-sides which Howerdel shelved for later use and never got around to until now. This kind of music, while great for APC-and me at the time I was listening to it-feels stale now, like a box of crackers you forgot to close properly. Another problem is Howerdel’s voice and lyrics. It would have behooved the man to get a better vocalist then himself for this new band, like he did with APC. Instead, we are subjected to Howerdel poorly trying to emulate Maynard James Keenan. Keenan was APC’s vocalist for a reason: he’s fucking amazing. Howerdel, it seems, understood this and tries to sing as much like him as possible, hoping for the same effect, but it falls flat.

What’s more, Howerdel is simply not the wordsmith that Keenan is. Keenan’s words are poetry, stories that draw you in and immerse you in a world dark yet fantastic. Howerdel by contrast sounds like a bored goth, spinning the same old woes of alienation, heartache and despair. In this area too, he’s trying to emulate Keenan and it’s just not working. I still like Howerdel and think that he has untapped potential to be more than he is now, musically speaking. Still, this album is boring, no bones about it. It’s not exactly bad, but it doesn’t live up to the expectations set forth by Howerdel’s previous music. Maybe next time.

Did You Kill Amanda Palmer?

Album: Who Killed Amanda Palmer?
Artist: Amanda Palmer
Genre: Dark Cabaret
Year: 2008
Label: Roadrunner

I’m completely brain-fried and trying to write coherently at some obscene hour of the night. Because when the itch gets a hold of you, you gotta follow it through to the end. Amanda Palmer is one half of the Dark Cabaret Punk duo The Dresden Dolls and responsible for some fairly iconoclastic music. Her voice, both musically and literally speaking, is unique. Her most recent release is her debut “solo” album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer? which is something of a departure from the Dolls, but what kind is hard to pin down.

The obvious question for artists with established bands doing solo projects is this: does it sound different from their usual work? In this case the answer is yes, this does not sound like a Dresden Dolls album, but it’s a subtle distinction. At first it might not be obvious, it’s still Amanda Palmer and there are still drums and piano, the only instruments of the Dolls, but when you listen closer, you realize that this album has much more orchestration then anything the Dolls have released. The Dresden Dolls are almost minimalist in sound compared to this album, which swoops and sings with string arrangements, augmenting the already powerful force of Palmer’s piano playing. It’s not just strings though. The sound is considerably bigger then the Dolls albums as you have much larger ensembles playing on any given track. East Bay Ray of the Dead Kennedys plays on “Guitar Hero” and the Born Again Horny Men of Edinburgh provide a great brass band backing on the song “Leeds United.” There are other guests, Zoë Keating (who provides many of the aforementioned strings), Ben Folds (who co-produced the album with Palmer) and August Strindberg (who stops in to talk about sulfur and iron). And there is something about the rhythm of the album that makes it sound different than that of a Dolls album. Maybe it’s because Brian Viglione (Palmers partner and drummer in the Dresden Dolls) isn’t on here or maybe it’s because Palmer has more (or on some tracks, less) to work with then just the drums, but this album feels slower in many places. Even the faster tracks have a different feel to them. It’s a really subtle, but important difference.

But despite the large orchestration, the guests and bigger sound, this album often feels lonelier than a Dresden Dolls album. This is probably the most difficult thing to explain. Maybe it’s the goal of the solo album, to feel bigger yet lonelier or maybe it’s just because Palmer’s without Viglione for the first time in while, whatever it is, it works to differentiate the album further. Some things remain the same though. Palmer’s voice is not your typical polished perfect pop star voice; it’s rough around the edges but also very beautiful. And that’s a good thing. It gives her a distinct presence in the world of music, which has enough pop princesses to begin with. So in the end will we ever truly know Who Killed Amanda Palmer? Probably not, but that’s ok, the world needs more mysteries.

The Industrial Revolution Part 2

Album: Hosannas From The Basements Of Hell
Artist: Killing Joke
Genre: Industrial Metal
Year: 2006
Label: Cooking Vinyl

While we’re still on an Industrial kick, let’s talk a little about Killing Joke. Killing Joke have proven to be one of the most influential bands on the planet, helping shape the sounds of everyone from Metallica to Nirvana. Their greatest influence, however, is felt in the worlds of Industrial Rock and Metal. The Joke began life as a bizarre Post-Punk outfit that got heavier and heavier and heavier. They got weirder too: Jaz Coleman (the singer) periodically disappeared to await the end of the world on some tiny island in the northern Atlantic. When the end of the world consecutively failed to arrive, he went back to rejoin the band, possibly to see if he could help Armageddon along though music. At the time of this recording, The Joke was a four piece, consisting of Coleman on synth and vocals (of course), guitar player Geordie Walker, bass player Paul Raven and drummer Ben Calvert.

Hosannas From The Basements Of Hell is an undoubtedly heavy record, taking Industrial Metal to its apocalyptic conclusions. The band’s practice sessions turned into recordings in a small, dark basement somewhere in Prague and the sound is deeply affected by the venue. Coleman’s beastial vocals, normally at the forefront of the music, are submerged in the mix, making him shout even louder than normal to get his point across. His subject matter, as always, is dark, surreal and apocalyptic. The music is crushingly heavy, perhaps the heaviest that they’ve ever been. The record is certainly more thunderous then their previous effort, their second self-titled album that came out in 2003. That record is very good and well produced, but lacks the raw, crackling energy that is brought by the band to this work. However, this record is not without its flaws. None of them are particularly crippling, but they still show up, like chinks in plate of armor.

The music can get a little repetitive. Killing Joke has always liked to groove and on this album they do so a lot. The song starts, they lay down their plan and very rarely deviate from it. This is where their strength lies, it’s true, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t wearing. The worst example of this comes in the form of the nine minute-plus “The Lightbringer” which manages to repeat its same groove for an unnecessary length of time. It does have variations, but even those manage to repeat themselves, making the song feel very self-indulgent. My favorite takes on the album are the ones with the most variation, lyrically and musically. These are tracks like the monstrous “Judas Goat” and the sludgy closer, “Gratitude”, the first of which has at least three major variations and the second of which has the best groove of any take on the record.

It is impressive that they did this album with mostly live takes and minor over dubs, yes, but I have the niggling feeling that they could have done even better. I’ve heard the Damage Manual, so I know that Geordie can do more wild things with a guitar then picking a couple of chords and repeating them over and over again. Of course, in the case of Industrial Metal, repetitive grooves may be just what you’re looking for. It certainly doesn’t detract enough from the album to make me not like it. This is an excellent album with problems, but that’s how a lot of them are. The whole band sounds like the soundtrack to the end of days and Coleman like a demon, heralding the birth of the Anti-Christ and the collapse of civilization as we know it. Really, from Killing Joke, what more could you want?

Post-Script: Paul Raven passed away October of 2007. He left behind a legacy of music that will make you shake in your boots. This was his final album with Killing Joke and it was a fine one at that.

The Industrial Revolution Part 1

Album: Devils In My Details
Artist: ohGr
Genre: Industrial
Year: 2008
Label: Synthetic Symphony

Once upon a time, I was an Industrial freak. It was my favorite genre, all my favorite musicians practiced it, it was a way of life. I fully acknowledge I know way too much about the genre, its roots, history and the people that populate it. In my mind, Industrial could be anything, the fault line between everything from Techno to Metal to Goth to Punk. It was Industrial that started my interest in musical collaboration. I used the Industrial super group Pigface (which has had over hundred different members) as a jumping off point into dozens of other bands. I’ve since branched out and listen to things from all over the musical universe, but Industrial will always have a place close to my heart. And so will some of the artists involved, Skinny Puppy being one of them. For the well adjusted, a little history: Skinny Puppy is a dark blend of electronic programming and gothic vocals that began life in the mid 80’s as the brainchild of cEvin Key and Nivek Ogre. The group collapsed in the 90’s due to internal strife and the death of third Puppy Dwayne Goettel but bounced back a few years ago, releasing some of their most bizarre work to date.

In the interim, Ogre began a new project titled ohGr (a highly original name) with producer Mark Walk (another Industrial freak) as his right hand man. The project was intended to take him in a bit of a different direction than Skinny Puppy, allowing for more Trip-Hop and IDM (that’s Intelligent Dance Music) influences. It’s not a huge step he’s taken away from Puppy, but it’s certainly there and informs ohGr with an often lighter sound than that of Skinny Puppy. I’m not saying its easy listening, it’s not Muzak Puppy, it’s just a bit less dark… or it was until now. This latest release from ohGr, Devils in my Details, successfully takes us back into the darkness that an Industrial godfather like Ogre should be capable of. Sunnypsyop, ohGr's previous album, was gloomy, but lent itself far more to the Electro side of things than the Industrial, giving it a slightly up lifting feel. That feeling is gone from Devils, leaving us with (dare I say?) a Synthetic Symphony of gothic darkness that out does ohGr’s previous release and measures up extremely well when compared to Mythmaker, Skinny Puppy’s most recent album.

Ogre’s warped vocals are the central focus of this carnival of horrors, acting as the sort of demented conductor of this dark and alien music. It’s no surprise that the sound of Skinny Puppy and ohGr have gotten closer together as they share two members in the form of Ogre and Walk, but the sound on Devils is far more Industrial proper than the more electrified sounds of Mythmaker, on which cEvin Key’s influence is more strongly felt. Without him, Ogre and Walk run wild, bringing in actor Bill Moseley to share in the fun. Moseley’s contributions to the album come in the form of outrageous spoken word pieces that pop up at the beginning and end of various tracks. Coming from a horror actor like Moseley, these pieces are both absurd and chilling. Devils is not a Skinny Puppy album, but it manages to be darker and more claustrophobic than Mythmaker which proves that Ogre doesn’t need Key to make great music. Standout tracks include the drum frenzy of the opener “Shhh”, the walls of blackened guitars that compose “Psychoreal” and horror of Bill Moseley’s rant on the big tent bouncer “Feelin’ Chicken”. For the well adjusted, this is a perfect place to get into industrial and in touch with your inner Goth.

This Sandwich is Wicked!!!

Album: They Mean Us
Artist: The Ladies
Genre: Indie/Math Rock
Year: 2006
Label: Temporary Residence

I love musicians who collaborate. An artist who is prolific is great, but an artist that leads you to a dozen other great artists is better. This happened with Mike Patton. I started with Faith No More and the man took my hand and led me all around the room to Secret Chiefs 3, Tomahawk, The Dub Trio and The Handsome Boy Modeling School to name just a few. Now, the same thing is happening with Zach Hill and Rob Crow. Both men are prolific and love to collaborate. Hill is the drummer for Hella, Goon Moon, The Holy Smokes and Team Sleep to name just a few. The man is a human dynamo of drum insanity, combining speed and precision in powerful fashion. Crow, on the other hand, is one-half of Pinback, a member of Thingy, The Other Men and Goblin Cock, again, to name just a few. All of his work contains his trademarked vocals, a cool, almost dreamy delivery that would calm the soul of anyone within the sound of it. Both of these men are talented, complicated and funny. So learning that the two of them had done an album together? To quote Vast Aire of Cannibal Ox “It’s like God’s on my side and he’s answered my Christmas list!”

Many people have described this album as sounding like Pinback meets Hella, which made me skeptical at first. But The Ladies do indeed sound like the drums of Hella mixed with the guitars of Pinback. Beautifully too. You’d think that the rattling drums of Hella would go poorly with the more laid back sound of Pinback, but they fit together so well it’s like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich from the hands of Indie Rock wizards. Which, of course, it is. The Ladies debut album, They Mean Us, is likely to be the only thing we’ll hear from this particular duo for a long time to come, so you have to make it last. Unfortunately, this album is only 33 minutes in length. I have single tracks that are longer. But it’s a strong 33 minutes. If you find Pinback too lulling or Hella too crazy, this is where you’ll find a perfect middle ground. You won’t fall asleep because the drums are keeping you awake, and the guitar doesn’t go off in to some hitherto unheard of direction at random intervals. It’s almost a perfect compromise, except its too damn short (damn it). Like this review. Oh well.

Giving The Horizon a Good Kick to the Ribs.

Album: Suicide Season
Artist: Bring Me the Horizon
Genre: Fauxcore
Year: 2008
Label: Visible Noise

The cover of Bring Me the Horizon’s latest release, Suicide Season, has a photo of a girl whose guts are spilling out of her stomach. The wound looks pretty bad, and I see some serious intestine in that mess. It’s a genuinely disgusting image to look at, especially when coupled with the girl’s blank expression. The feelings of revulsion I felt upon seeing the cover accompanied me into the album and refuse to abate. Bring Me the Horizon are one of the numerous Fauxcore bands that populate our zeitgeist and they are making a serious attempt for worst album of all time. I have never before heard such completely unlistenable music in my life. Just the thought of it is painful. My animosity towards Bring Me The Horizon goes beyond mere dislike and into full fledged hate. Make no mistake, I’m going to destroy this band and nothing and no one can stop me.

Where do I start? The obvious place I suppose: The vocals. Bring Me the Horizon is fronted by Oliver Skyes, a misogynistic bastard that no one in their right minds should let near a microphone. Hearing him scream is physically painful not just to the ears but to the throat as well as you can imagine his vocal chords tearing apart under the strain. He’s trying nothing short of decapitating his audience and it feels like it’s working. I just checked my ears, half expecting them to be dripping blood. The music doesn’t make the situation any better as it falls under typical Fauxcore styling of hard edged guitars over pummeling blast beats. It sounds like a bunch of skater kids hopped up on PCP, taking chainsaws to the heads of innocent bystanders. Furthermore, the songs are unintelligible from one another and in turn are unintelligible from other Fauxcore bands. It’s not Metal, it’s not Hardcore, it’s more like rusted blades carving up your eardrums. This music is garbage, total trash. If you thought Slipknot was bad then you have never experienced Bring Me The Horizon. Why on earth would a human being willingly expose themselves to this shit? I didn’t think it was possible but this band has made me look back fondly on my hour with Dragonforce. Sure they’re the Kenny G’s of Metal but at least they’re funny and fun to make fun of. Listening to and writing about Bring Me the Horizon, all I feel is sickness.

There was a time where it meant something to be Hardcore. In the days of Black Flag and Minor Threat when you made fast, dirty music on your own record label because everyone else hated you, you could hold your head high and say that you were Hardcore with pride. These days, Fauxcore kids around the world have stolen and bastardized the word for their own sick purposes. It means nothing to be Hardcore anymore if that means you associate yourself with such bands as Bring Me the Horizon. If you see copies of this album, break them. If you see this band live, throw food at them.

All Hope is Indeed Gone

Album: All Hope Is Gone

Artist: Slipknot

Genre: Nu-Metal

Year: 2008

Label: Roadrunner/Nuclear Blast

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to this. After all, if there’s one thing in this world I derive pleasure from, it’s breaking crap records and throwing them on the fire to cook. And this record, All Hope is Gone by Slipknot, is going to be roasted like the pig on a spit that it is. Slipknot is the last gasp of the Nu-Metal era. Poor, brutish and short, the Nu-Metal era was a blight upon the musical landscape that allowed the world to know the horrors of bands such as Korn, Mudvayne, Disturbed and worst of all… Limp Bizkt. The reign was marked by travesty, controversy and misery. We are all lucky to have survived it intact. But though we struggle to move on with our lives, some people refuse to let it go. These people remember this time of grief, agony and debauchery and see their kingdom. These people would seek to resurrect the false gods of Rage Rock and restore their power, plunging the world into a second era of bleak wretchedness. If I have anything to say about it, this will not happen.

Slipknot hails from Des Moines, Iowa and they never should have left there. If they hadn’t, they wouldn’t have infected the world with their evil and perhaps we would have been spared the musical carnage they have wrought. A nine member band, Slipknot are my second favorite kind of band to review because they are bad, no bones about it. They sound like a pack of rabid animals trying to form a metal band and failing. Itchy and scratchy, these animals turn on themselves and those around them in an effort to spread their disease sonically. This disease causes the gut to clench, eyes to water and ears to bleed. If there was ever music that deserved a biohazard warning, this is it. What’s worse is that people like it. All Hope is Gone debuted at #1 on billboard 200, which means there are lots of people out there willing to expose themselves to harmful materials. It makes me gag, but I can sort of understand it to a certain extent. Slipknot is an extremely commercial band; if you want metal that’s easy to swallow and stomach turning all at the same time, they’re your men. There is a certain visceral appeal to the music as they’re almost animalistic in nature, but they ruin themselves on the choruses, which are obviously meant to draw crowds of consumers into their web. What’s more, the lyrics are ridiculous. Rage Rock is DEAD. I don’t know how to spell it out for you any clearer than that. It was never truly alive to begin with and centering your lyrics on all your favorite violent tendencies is absolutely childish. Corey Taylor’s voice can’t decide if it wants to be Phil Anselmo or Chino Moreno, and it doesn’t do either very well at all. Listening to the man is aggravating as he’s got the most annoying growls in the world and when he sings my ears feel like they’re being chewed on.

Is there anything, at this point, that I can say in Slipknot’s favor? Shockingly, yes. They’ve got a pretty good drummer. Some have called him the fastest drummer in the world which he’s not by any means, but he’s pretty damn speedy and while speed does not equal skill, there is some actual talent behind his ferocious battering of his kit. If the rest of the band was this good, there might have been some real power here but sadly, all the musicians manage to fall short of the mark. Slipknot are a bunch of speed-freaks who haven’t quite realized their time is over. We don’t need them, never did in the first place. If you haven’t yet caught on, they’re, stick a fork in it, done. And so is this review.

The Dub Trio: Let Your Heavies Out

Main Act: Dub Trio
Opening acts: Witchburn, Middle Class Rut, Black Cobra
Venue: El Corazon
Date: December 1, 2008

Let me start by saying that I don’t think I have ever attended a heavier show in my life. The Dub Trio play a masterful combination of Dub Reggae and Heavy Metal and both these genres together make for some extremely low-tone music. This was also one of the weirdest concerts I have ever attended because there was nobody there. You know that feeling that you get at some shows where it feels like you’re the only person in the audience? Well, at this show, you really were the only person in the audience. There were only about fifteen people at the show and being at El Corazon, the place was far from packed, which was actually pretty cool. The crowd was extremely chill and there were no psychos or super-fans to distract from the band. There was one guy who was clearly hopped up on something but he mostly kept to himself and didn’t bother the rest of us.

It was also cool to be as close as I was to the band. I’ve been in front of concerts before but never at El Corazon which allowed me a totally unobstructed view of the band’s performance. The Dub Trio knows how to throw down, being, again, probably the heaviest band I’ve ever seen. All three of them are skilled musicians, but it’s their drummer who really caught my ear. I don’t know why, probably because the drums were my first love, I’ve always paid close attention to drummers and this guy was a piece of metal. It pays to be patient when playing Dub and the drummer was both patient and powerful, putting his share of the weight into the mix. This band is a trio, though, and no member really takes center stage. There are no solo wankers, just team players and their cohesiveness was amazing to witness. Dub is difficult to do live as evidenced by the sea of effect pedals laid out before the guitar player. I can’t even begin to guess what they did or if he even used them all-but a lot of what I saw was him looping his guitar. It was cool. He did have some trouble: one of his toys-a magnet used to stimulate the guitar strings-didn’t seem to work that night, but he had plenty of other tools to warp his guitar into new and unusual sounds.

While I enjoyed the Dub a lot, I really liked their Metal. These guys are heavier then a granite slab and make bands like Metallica look downright kittenish. Speaking of Metallica, my friends and I speculated on the lack of crowd density and realized, after the show was over, that both Metallica and the Wu-Tang Clan had been in town that night as well. What’s more, it was Monday night and the Dub Trio don’t exactly fit into the Metal or Dub worlds perfectly, so they’re without the built-in fan base that doing just one of those things might allow for. It’s a real shame because they’re much better then Metallica and deserve to be known by more people. All these factors make it even more impressive that the Trio gave the show their all even with so few people in the crowd. After it was over, the drummer came out and thanked us all for coming and for not going to the Metallica show. No problem my friend, no problem. The best tracks they played include Bay Vs Leonard, Not For Nothing and No Flag.

Into the Estradasphere!

Album: Palace of Mirrors
Artist: Estradasphere
Genre: Avant-Garde/Genre Blender
Year: 2006
Label: The End

Estradasphere is a band that wants to do it all, and more impressively, can do it all. Originally hailing from Santa Cruz, California, Estradasphere is an ensemble of multi-instrumentalists who play music that trains you to expect the unexpected. Like their forefathers Mr. Bungle and Secret Chiefs 3, Estradasphere loves to do crazy things with genres. What sets them apart from being a poorer version of Secret Chiefs 3 or Mr. Bungle is this: While Mr. Bungle would jump through a dozen genres in a single song and Secret Chiefs 3 keeps their hopping to a minimum and mostly between songs, Estradasphere takes on the difficult challenge of warping and combining genres, while still jumping around a lot. This is most evident on tracks like Smuggled Mutation, which begins as a Gypsy fiddle dance but quickly evolves into a Black Metal crunch while leaving the fiddle spinning wildly out of control, and The Terrible Beauty Power of Meow, which at first appears to be a mournful string symphony before transforming into a surf rock stretch that would make the Beach Boys proud.

This latest album, Palace of Mirrors, is perhaps Estradasphere’s most consistent release to date. The only other album I’ve heard by them is Buck Fever, which, while also excellent, doesn’t hold together in quite the same way that Palace does. This is because Palace of Mirrors manages to maintain the Estradasphere sound, each track sounding like it all came from the same band rather then a bunch of individual groups. As with all Estradasphere releases, despite the lack of words, there is a definite narrative here. Estradasphere’s work is often very cinematic, on Palace of Mirrors more so then ever before. Excellent examples of this come from the spy thriller romp of Colossal Risk or the credits roller and title track, Palace of Mirrors. There is something very sinister in Estradasphere’s music. This isn’t always evident, but it does come out from time to time. Buck Fever was more overtly sinister then Palace is but it’s still there, hiding, waiting to reveal itself. We get tastes of it throughout the album, but it is never more present then on the Palace of Mirrors Reprise, which amps up the suspense and terror to levels only imagined before in nightmares.

With all of this musical strength, is there anything wrong with Estradasphere? Not really. Some people may have trouble tracking the genre changes or may become annoyed when they blend together things like Gypsy Folk and Black Metal, but if you’re open minded you won’t be bothered by that. It’d be a shame, but Estradasphere could probably make it as a band that just played Death Metal, or just played Surf Rock or even Gypsy Folk. So it’s even more impressive when you hear them doing all of these things, sometimes in the space of a single song.

I Like Intimacy (and Let’s Face it, Who Doesn’t?)

Album: Intimacy

Artist: Bloc Party

Genre: Indie Rock/Dance Punk

Year: 2008

Label: Witchita/Vice

I’ll be honest, I was not sure what to expect from Bloc Party. An English Indie Rock band, Bloc Party has met with resounding popularity both in their native land and over seas. Popularity means jack-squat to me and is, these days, often a sign of over-hype rather than actual talent. This being said, I like Bloc Party. I think they’re a quartet of talented fellows who share my appreciation for the Post-Punk scene circa Entertainment!-era Gang of Four. In some ways I find that Gang of Four could be the original dance-punk band (though credit is due elsewhere) and the gyrating spirit that they brought to their music is similar in style to what Bloc Party does today.

Previous to Intimacy, the only Bloc Party track I’d heard was “Hunting for Witches”, off of their 2007 album, A Weekend in the City. “Hunting for Witches” is a bad ass combination of dance rhythm funk and snaking guitars which had me moving for weeks. The overall effect of Intimacy is to get you to move and it does its job extremely well. Almost all of the tracks are infectious, almost feverishly danceable, notable exceptions being the slower paced “Biko” and the epic “Zepherus”, which sounds like Bloc Party hired a church choir. Good drumming is paramount and Bloc Party’s drummer is a beat machine, banging out hyper fast rhythms for the rest of the band to rock over. The guitars often sound like they’re being fed through a distorter, giving them an even more electrified feel than they would have normally. The problem with Intimacy (besides it’s obvious complicating effects) is that none of the tracks make me want to move in the same way that “Hunting for Witches” did. Maybe that’s a fluke, maybe I’d hate the rest of A Weekend in the City, but the fact is that none of the tracks are quite as infectious as that one song. But this album does have both “Trojan Horse” and “One Month Off”, both of which contain that fever pitch rhythm I want to hear from Bloc Party. One Month Off does come extremely close to “Hunting For” Witches and is probably the best track on the album as a result.

Maybe I’m not being fair though. Maybe I shouldn’t be comparing a whole album to the one track I’d heard before. But it’s my only frame of reference and I have to go with what I’m given. I could have gone and listened to A Weekend in the City as well, but I only have so much money. Regardless, comparisons aside, Intimacy is still a great, dancey album and it will make you move like a motherfucker.