Alternative rockers, A Place to Bury Strangers, take listeners on a journey into self-disintegration in their intense new album Exploding Head. This dark, doom-rock style album relies heavily on fast paced industrial inspired tracks and edgy, 80's retro elements.
In comparison to their debut album release, Exploding Head is somewhat less noise-ridden, and the songs are a bit less disturbing. It's as if the band sifted through the music and found the proper balance of intensity and distortion, eliminating the excess noise that nobody wanted to hear.
The Album
Released on September 29, 2009 by Mute Records Ltd., Exploding Head is aptly titled due to the loudness factor it bestows upon its listeners. Distorted guitars, and heavy, industrial laden tracks reign on this album and are particularly prevalent in Ego Death and Everything Always Goes Wrong.
The album kicks off with the dark, fast driving track It is Nothing, and then ventures into In Your Heart which has an edgy retro feel to it. The third track, Lost Feeling, gets heavy midway through the song leaving the listener with an incessant feeling of doom.
Another song that captures an edgy feeling is Everything Always Goes Wrong , which encompasses a decent amount of guitar distortion. It's an intense song, that haunts the listener and tailor-made for those music fans who love retro disintegration-wave.
Other songs on the album seem inspired by a variety of artists, from the surf riff in Dead Beat to elements of The Cure in Exploding Head. The last track, I Lived My Life To Stand In The Shadow Of Your Heart, has a bit of a Depeche Mode influence to it. Keep Slipping Away, also has a familiar beat to it, sounding ever so slightly like Ozzy Osbourne's mega hit, Crazy Train.
The noisiest, loudest song on the entire album is by far Ego Death. Its five minutes and forty-four seconds of heavy, galloping drumbeats and hard ripping guitars accompanied by haunting Gothic style vocals. This is industrial style music at its best.
The Shoegaze Effect
A Place to Bury Strangers has been a part of the new wave of shoegaze bands, appropriately termed 'nu gaze'. Nu gaze, which combines heavily effected guitars like those of British shoegazing bands and modern influences, including electronica and heavier rock, is influenced mainly by the elements of space-rock guitar.
The nu gaze effect is somewhat apparent on APTBS' latest album, which seems to draw its influences from other shoegaze style bands. Exploding Head isn't actually a mind blowing album, but for fans of My Bloody Valentine and The Jesus & Mary Chain it is definitely worth a listen.
Minka Gantenbein - Minka Gantenbein is a freelance journalist from the beautiful Central Coast of California. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in ...
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