This band from the Netherlands features one of the guitarists from the Devil's Blood,which peaked my interest as I am curious as to what became of the surviving members of that band. The first song the band comes across like a darker version of Mew.The vocals are so androgynous that is was not until the second song that I was sure the singer was a woman . Not metal they do rock pretty hard at times they even create a dark pounding that creates the kind of drone that can be found on earlier Swans albums to compliment when singer Milena Eva is chanting like a more crazed version of Jarboe. When they step on the gas it reminds me a little of the Devil's Blood."Old Habits" carried more of a rock stomp to it."O.D.I.R" takes a similar stomp and drones over it before launching into a more punk like attack. Her melody has more of a Debbie Harry touch to it, which is a welcome departure from the legions of Siouxsie clones.
Things continue to get darker on "Shapeless"finds the guitar taking a darker pulse, but the band heading in a more hooky and straight forward direction, which in this case works. Her voice wraps itself around the song like the hypnotizing snake from the "Jungle Book"."Tar and Feather" finds her vocals maintains an alluring quality while the rest of the band hits a more straight forward punk rock sound with noisy edges and angular turns. The are almost like a harsher version of Garbage here. "the Controller" drones on a static guitar line which is picked in a similar fashion to some black metal. The song kicks into something with more form in a pretty explosive fashion. Things speed up on the punk fueled "the Waves" that find all of the elements coming together almost more like a metal band, so some of the guitarists past catches up with him here.
"And I Know" pretty much has every element I need from this type of music. It's sonic, dark and has a dream like quality to it. It has a swaying groove that her melody falls over perfectly. There is an Apocalypse rising in the tension of "Don't". Vocally she backs off a little and sits back into the boiling riff.They close out the album with an oddly straight forward proto-punk drone of "Taste Me". This albums sounds great some of the more punk leaning moments do not always sit best with me, but overall these guys have something unique going and I am curious as to where they will go from here. I'll give it an 8.5.
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