Sleigh Bells - Jessica Rabbit

Ever wonder what it would sound like if The Naked and Famous collaborated with Nine Inch Nails? Look no further. Sleigh Bells' eclectic fourth album Jessica Rabbit is just that.

Sleigh Bells is a band that doesn't really find itself bound to a genre, as it's caught in between so many. Their music is best described as a rogue noise pop, drawing from industrial and electronica, too. Jessica Rabbit is an album that they finished again and again, never quite being satisfied with the product. The dynamic record draws from trying to fill an empty space with fresh hope, drawing from each band members' different approach to writing.

Right from the start, you'll realize this album is something unique. Disjointed, noisy guitar punches lead 'It's Just Us Now' to its pounding start, massive drums filling the song with confidence as Alexis Krauss' vocals soar high above the instrumental. It's an empowering song to say the least - it'll get your blood flowing for sure. The album's lifeline is its high energy that resonates throughout the record's playtime. The groovy riffs of 'I Can't Stand You Anymore' bring the anthemic vibe to the song, with CHVRCHES-esque synth arpeggios and swells sound in the background. The energy doesn't fade whatsoever - near the end of the record, 'Baptism By Fire' is just as energetic as the beginning of the record was.

It's easy to see the album as an uplifting, optimistic one. That would take away from it's diversity, however; it is true that there is a lot of energy on the record, but there's some darkness sprinkled into its tracklist. The short track 'Loyal For' almost sounds like a Chelsea Wolfe track, the deep synths and dark strings creating an abysmal feeling as Krauss' vocals resonate high above them. It's tense drama makes it almost feel violent. 'Unlimited Dark Paths' also gets off to a dark start, but it's sparkling synths soften up the evilness the track has at its core.

Those are the two spectrums, and of course the two also meet at a middle ground. The single 'I Can Only Stare' may seem positive from an outside view, but looking into its blaring synths and spidery synths, it feels more like a search for hope rather than dwelling in a place where positivity already exists. Krauss' vocals are upbeat, but the instrumental remains dark. 'Throw Me Down The Stairs' also sees more darkness, but also has a more upfront rock vibe to it. It's thick and almost threatening.

If this album is lacking anything, it's more upfrontness. I can't help feel that by the end of the record, it could be using a bit more punchiness to it. It's atmospheric and sweet, but it's not as powerful as the beginning of the record. There was conviction and a strive, but at the end of the record it doesn't quite feel the same. It's not bad, and the energy is still there, but it could just use a bit more to really elevate it.

Sleigh Bells are continuing their crazy journey into left-field power pop with flying colors. Jessica Rabbit is energetic and shows that the band really put their soul into this record before being ready to release it. It's not perfect and may lose some of its conviction by the end, but its energy remains constant and allows the album to feel fresh from start to end, and you can't go wrong with that.

Favorite Tracks: It's Just Us Now, Lighting Turns Sawdust Gold, I Can Only Stare

Least Favorite Track: As If

Rating: 80 / 100

Kidneythieves - The Mend

Industrial music is often times very unrelenting. Its mechanic body moves in a synchronized array of pounding synths without emotion. That's what Kidneythieves exhibits in their new album The Mend, though there is a quite a bit of emotion; particularly worry.

The album was delayed by about a month following guitarist and engineer Bruce Somers who experienced a family crisis and was unable to master the album until the end of August, but the band knew that they wanted a masterfully crafted album. So they pushed back to release to allow for the album to be properly mixed for the best experience. The Kickstarter campaign that funded the record also played a key in wanting this album to be better for the fans than it was at that time.

Did the patience pay off, though? The results of The Mend don't really justify the time and money put into the record. It's a solid record, but it's nothing special, nor particularly exciting. It may be the nature of the genre that is always trying to live up to Nine Inch Nails, and of which few bans or artists have truly excelled in, but The Mend is just underwhelming as a whole.

It kicks off with 'Fist Up', starting creepily and leading into a thick, pulsing guitar riff that punches in and out to add dynamic to the track. Free Dominguez's melody is a bit odd, panicky and hysterical in the choruses but in a high-school cheerleader kind of way. It's a solid track otherwise. 'Codependent Song' shows that NIN influence on the genre; the bouncing synths and dramatic vocals shining through.

This album is plagued by missing something on each song. There's not one song that feels complete - they all seem lacking in some fashion. Many songs seem to be missing a sufficient low-end to balance out the high register guitars and bouncing synths. In fact, there really isn't a song that has a strong low end that empowers it. 'Kushcloud' has traces of bass in the wobbling, distorted synth, but it just doesn't quite hit that deep, low-end feel. Some songs don't even have an almost: 'Who You Are' is heavily reminiscent of the industrial/electronic scene of the late 80s and 90s. With that high synth, there really isn't any thick bassline - or any bass whatsoever - to hold down its foundations.

A lot of the slower songs had potential, too. There's interesting points of the record, especially when some of the aggressive imagery and reprimanding nature of the industrial genre is dropped for something more provocative. 'Migration' is the start of this trend, a swampy synth playing above a funky beat as Dominguez's melodies take the limelight. 'Let Freedom Ring' even takes up a poppier composure - and actually has a bass guitar, however underwhelming! - that features a programmed beat and uplifting melodies, powerful guitars giving it the punch that so much of the rest of the album lacked.

If anything, The Mend is an example of how important bass can be to an album. Kidneythieves may have made an important album for them, but that doesn't make it a good one. It was a long time coming and it unfortunately didn't live up to what it could have been. It missed vital components that would've taken it a single step further and by far a better album. All the tools are there - they just have to know how to use them.

Favorite Track: Let Freedom Ring

Least Favorite Tracks: World For Us, Living Like You Did

Rating: 53 / 100

Swans - The Glowing Man

Post-rock has the potential to be so many different things. It can be wild and frantic, moving in ways and shapes that the mind can't predict. It can also move in slow and melancholy ways that build slowly over time, allowing for massive spaces of atmosphere to settle in. Post-rock legends Swans find a compromise right in between these two extremes in their new record, The Glowing Man.

Going into a Swans record means you have to be mentally prepared to handle an otherworldly experience. Each record is like something from another dimension. Over their multi-decade spanning career, they've carved a niche for themselves. This album borrows heavily from their latest efforts: 2012's dramatic The Seer and 2014's funkier To Be Kind. The Glowing Man is like a coagulation of the two albums, the influence of both being clear while still one substance as it stands.

Nearly half of the songs on the record have a runtime of over twenty minutes, and while those times may seem as off-putting, a lot goes on within each track over that long span of time. A mild sense of the giant build ups this album has can be taken from the first track, 'Cloud Of Forgetting', that begins quietly with distant guitar before big guitar and kick hits come in to end the track. The track builds slowly over its twelve and a half minute length, with creepy vocals from Michael Gira depressingly and revealingly occur throughout the track, ending with deep descending pianos. Following that track is the epic 'Cloud Of Unknowing', a track that truly exemplifies the sound of Swans. Beginning creepily with scratches and horrific and panicked sounds, accompanied by terrifying screams of the tortured, massive, dark walls of noise build into a petrifying heavy climax that lead the song into a gentle ending, with church bells that act as both a throwback to The Seer and the feeling that this song is inspired by the absolute depths of Hell itself.

Title track 'The Glowing Man' is much the same, while not being quite as utterly scary as the former track. It's more of an experimental song, glitchy guitars accompanied by atmospheric splashes of synths. It has a dramatic and heavy, thrashy middle section that sounds like a heavier, somehow darker version of Nine Inch Nails. Several songs feature the use of synths to help build the cavernous and endless atmosphere the album really banks on, including 'People Like Us' and 'Frankie M', the latter of which is another track that has a massive, heavy guitar part as its culmination.

The only real issue with the album is that some of the songs are really drawn out. While the tracks are brilliant in their own rights, a lot of them could be shorter. After twenty minutes of the same song, there's a lot of progression that could even serve as parts of a bigger whole, and perhaps better off as separate tracks. The album banks on long sections of repeating measures that slowly and slowly build up and slow down, sometimes really dragging down the mood. It does work in the favor of 'Cloud Of Unforgiving', since that track's devilish overtones really play to the slow and building intensity. It works in most tracks in the same way it doesn't.

Swans never go small. Each release is a work of art, in a different and strange way. The Glowing Man may be one of the band's darkest releases, long drawn out songs building with subtle intensities to brilliant and powerful climaxes that peak with such darkness and power that you cannot forget. Another brilliant piece of post-rock from a brilliant band. Some songs are dragged down by their length, but in the end this album wouldn't be quite the dark monster it would be without that factor. Give it a shot - it's an album that'll leave you thinking for a long time.

Favorite Tracks: Cloud Of Unknowing, The Glowing Man

Least Favorite Track: When Will I Return

Rating: 7.5/10

letlive. - If I'm The Devil...

Los Angeles post-hardcore outfit letlive. has evolved their sound in their new record, 'If I'm The Devil'. The new album abandons some of the harshness found in previous album and fills the gap with filling harmonies and arena--filling guitars.

Balancing energy and quieter moments can prove a challenge, but letlive. does well with this on the new record. Songs including the bombastic 'Good Mourning, America' and the Death From Above 1979-esque, positive sounding 'Nu Romantics' ooze loads of energy and big rock power. The songs on this record tend to have giant bridges and/or endings, definitely aimed for big live moments. The album doesn't miss out on softer moments, however. Closer track 'Copper Colored Quiet' is an anthemic and theatrical song backed by a substantial orchestra that slowly builds up over time, while starting quietly and reaches a climax, which is not as massive as other songs found on the record, but definitely brings the record to a suitable end. 'Foreign Cab Rides' also takes a more somber road, but builds up into a panicy ending with a massive presence,

'If I'm The Devil' may be a more approachable inlet in letlive.'s discography, but it doesn't let that stop some experimentation and risks. Introduction 'I've Learned To Love Myself' doesn't sound quiet like anything the band has done thus far, starting the album on a powerful and dark note. The song feels like it was taken straight out of Chelsea Wolfe's playbook with some guitars slapped on and lyrics taken from Trent Reznor's journal. The song is crushingly emotional, with a broken disposition in the brilliant vocal performance from vocalist Jason Butler. The melody itself tells a story, Butler showing off his signature theatrics with his voice. The disposition of the track is even haunting, Butler laughing at the situation the song describes: the rejection and acceptance of a broken soul. The guitars burst in with grand acclaim, complimenting the darkness of the record, and the crushing nature of the track gets no easier as it progresses. A bold move to start the album with one of the best songs the band has ever written, but it doesn't make the rest of the album any worse.

Other newly treaded areas of the record include the radio-pleaser 'Who You Are Not', seemingly intended to bring in fans from a poppier angle. The song itself is a banger; the fact that it has less of a letlive. vibe to it does not make it any less of a great jam. It's almost a central point of the record; the call to arms gang vocals a recurring theme across the record bringing the determination to an all time high in the song. Lead single 'Reluctantly Dead' is just as good, the determined and grand choruses spewing energy into the record at it's midpoint. 'A Weak Ago' shows signs of flamenco and western influences, the subtle rage in the vocals hidden under the almost ridiculous overtones show the brilliance of the band's creativity. Title track 'If I'm The Devil' begins creepily with a spidery muted guitar track and a choir singing staccatos until Butler's vocals kick in. It builds up in a huge way, the end of the song climaxing then ending quietly as if to provide a reprisal of the emotions experienced within the track. The only flop on the record is the upfront 'Another Offensive Song', which is titled as ridiculously as it sounds. The band seemed to take the "let's be as edgy and punk as we can sound" approach with this one, to negative results.

letlive. does not disappoint. Whether it be the revealing and tortured lyrics found on their debut 'Fake History' or the sharp and rugged riffs of 'The Blackest Beautiful', this band finds way to blend their grandiose with heaviness. While 'If I'm The Devil' may not be their heaviest, or even most true-to-self record, it's undoubtedly a signature album in the band's building discography. The music shows progression and a new mentality towards their sound, which is really all anyone can ask for of any band. They understood that while they had their niche, overdoing it would kill off others, as well as their own interest. Progression is key for musicians, and letlive. did not let that brooding task stop them.

Favorite Tracks: I've Learned To Love Myself, If I'm The Devil, Copper Colored Quiet

Least Favorite Track: Another Offensive Song

Rating: 8.5/10