The Black AngelsDirections to See A Ghost
(05.2008, Light In The Attic)
Verdict: Stoner rock with less rock and more stone
I listen to a lot of stoner psych rock for someone who doesn't even smoke the ganja. There is something about the gritty dirty raw sexiness of nasty pysch blues smut that just really does it for me, ya know? As gross as that last sentence sounded, it was true, Black Angel's previous album, Passover, was the go-to album if all else on my ipod was failing me and I just needed a little sure fire rock to reassure my love for music again. The thing is, I am not amazed or in love with their music nor do I think it's beautiful. In fact, I think it's fairly ugly, and it's pretty scary sounding. So why do I love it so? Must be satan. In fact, my very favorite quote I have read about this album was the New Music Express talking about how it was evil sounding and "the sexiest soundtrack to selling your soul you could ever imagine." Now if that doesn't sound appealing! Well, let's get to the point. Directions to See A Ghost is more in lines with an epic than a simple rock album. Droney and slow like honey, it's rhythmic feedback laden tidal wave of sound is sure to hypnotize you, but don't let it's snare take you so fully that you are too dazed to notice the small changes in The Black Angels on this, their sophomore release. The instrumentation is more varied and the album flows from track to track rather than being a collection of singles like Passover seemed more to be. I think if you listen really carefully you may even hear the singer sing more than one note, but I'm not sure. I may have just been dreaming under The Black Angels psych spell.
-Sassigrass
The Black Angels - "Doves"
2 comments:
I'm with you on the stoner rock thing. I generally like mine to be more heavy and less spacey. Doves, at least, seems to lean more towards to opposite of what I really like. As with many genres I enjoy, I tend to be pretty picky about specific bands within the genre.
Although with words and phrases like droney, honey, rhythmic feedback, and wave of sound, it's definitely not all bad. There's just not enough of each of the elements for my taste.
I found myself lol-ing two or three times during this review.
I enjoyed it.
I think this is probably the first review of this album that I've read that doesn't compare the Black Angels to the Doors.
Post a Comment