A Place to Bury Strangers
Exploding Head
Mute, 2009
http://www.aplacetoburystrangers.com/
http://www.mute.com/
It's taken me a while to come to a verdict on this one. Had I been forced to give my opinion on this band after one listen, I would have said, "Thanks but no thanks, A Place to Bury Strangers. I'm not interested." Aside from their magnificent name, they didn't do much for me initially. And I think I know why.
This sounds like vampire music.
"Now wait just a minute," you say. "Vampires are so totally in right now. Shouldn't that work to their advantage?" To that I would say, "No. Remember when Jurassic Park came out and all of a sudden everyone was suddenly interested in paleontology? Same deal. Hollywood gets people into some really nerdy s**t."
This isn't vampire-ish in a tweeny-bopper, Twilight Saga kind of way. This sounds more like something straight off of The Lost Boys soundtrack, but better. This record has a distinct 80's throwback sound and reminds me of The Jesus and Mary Chain, but with random sonic blasts of god-knows-what that probably register at the same decibel level as a nitrous-fueled jet engine.
That in and of itself is not a bad thing. It's just the whole vampire sound that gets me. And maybe that's not even a fair description. They don't sing about vampires, or even look like them. It's just the first thing that popped into my head. I picture some jackass with a chin piercing, a ruffled shirt and fake fangs totally digging this.
But the more I listen, the more I'm able to set my vampire-prejudice aside. It's a decent album. A very loud album, but decent. It's growing on me like a flesh-eating bacteria and I'm strangely okay with that.
If you're into The Jesus and Mary Chain and white noise, this is something you can really sink your teeth into.
Yeah, I just said that. What.