The self-proclaimed ‘loudest band in the world’, A Place To Bury Strangers have released this stop-gap EP. It’s their first release since 2009’s Exploding Head and little has changed for these guys in the interim. They are still in thrall to a shoegazing/Jesus and Mary Chain sound, which they render very well.
I Lost You is a typical APTBS track, 3 and a half minutes of this is all you really need if you want to know what these guys sound like. It’s a faithful, almost pastiche, from the pounding drum machines, to the Jim Reid style vocals and the Psychocandy scree of guitars. There’s a slight 60s feel to So Far Away, accentuated by the percussion.
The Cure/New Order inflected title track takes things down a notch or two, turning down the ear-bleeding noise (which actually ramps up the tension) before the final two tracks jump right back into distortion It’ll Be Alright leaning heavily on My Bloody Valentine before the bludgeoning noise of Drill It Up.
Maybe it’s wrong to expect more from a band than to filter its influences but not only could this EP have been recorded in 2009, it could have been recorded in 1989.
Killian Laher
Tracklist:
- I Lost You
- So Far Away
- Onwards To The Wall
- It’ll Be Alright
- Drill It Up
Released 07 February 2012.
