A Place To Bury Strangers - Worship (Album Review)
Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Written by Ben Bland
How do you define a band like A Place to Bury Strangers? After all they really are one of those bands that seem to take an uncommon delight in being hard to pin down. It would be very easy to just call them a noise rock band but then that fails to quite capture the dark post-punk facet that is crucial to their sound, as well as the undeniable pop tinge that is sometimes allowed to break through all the feedback and take control. What is for sure is that, over the course of two well-received albums, A Place to Bury Strangers have managed to cement themselves a position as one of the loudest, and indeed finest, bands in modern alternative rock.
It is a shame then that 'Worship' is not the kick-on to true greatness that could have been. Three years on from 2009’s gloriously feedback drenched 'Exploding Head', A Place to Bury Strangers have stalled somewhat. There is nothing bad about this album per se. The aural destruction inflicted by the band’s guitar attack is still present and correct, there is still the sense that underneath all the racket the band are still trying to write songs - sadly the songs just don’t quite live up to expectations. On first listen everything seems to be there but the moments that have made their last albums really stand out from the crowd just seem to be absent from the equation here.
Take 'Mind Control' as an example. Only three and a quarter minutes in length, it starts with a bang before doing everything you would expect of a standard rock song as written by a totally ridiculous experimental rock band called A Place to Bury Strangers. The great thing about the band’s last two records is that they nailed the art of writing pop songs whilst seemingly trying to do anything but. That knack seems to have escaped them here, aside perhaps from the opening one-two of 'Alone' and 'You are the One', which kick things off with promise. A large chunk of the record after that is rather forgettable.
To focus on the positives however, this is another fantastic lesson in how to make music that sounds totally out of this world. The fact that guitarist Oliver Ackerman is also the founder of boutique pedal company Death by Audio means this should be no surprise, but that does not mean that the total sonic annihilation (yes, that is the name of one of said company’s pedals) wrought by the guitars on this album should escape praise. Anyone who thinks that guitar music is dead should take a listen to this on full volume before claiming that the instrument is predictable.
Certainly this is a well-produced, musically interesting record. However, sadly that just makes the lack of genuinely enjoyable songs all the more disappointing. To take things onto a personal note, as a guitarist and lover of noise music this is a record that will probably find a deserved place on my shelves, if only so I can marvel at the bewildering tones that are prominent here. For those who wanted 'Worship' to be an album full of great, loud rock songs though…well this may be something of a disappointment.
'Worship' is out on June 11th via Dead Oceans.
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It is a shame then that 'Worship' is not the kick-on to true greatness that could have been. Three years on from 2009’s gloriously feedback drenched 'Exploding Head', A Place to Bury Strangers have stalled somewhat. There is nothing bad about this album per se. The aural destruction inflicted by the band’s guitar attack is still present and correct, there is still the sense that underneath all the racket the band are still trying to write songs - sadly the songs just don’t quite live up to expectations. On first listen everything seems to be there but the moments that have made their last albums really stand out from the crowd just seem to be absent from the equation here.
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