Bellicose Minds : "the Creature"

It's been three years since the Portland post-punk trio released "the Spine". Their newest opens with a more frantically upbeat number than I remember them having on their 2013 album. One their Bandcamp page the band says that they use big amps and electric drums to make music inspired by rain and cloud. This song seems a little too peppy for rain and clouds. The big amps are creating the great bass tone that opens "Exiled".  This song is tighter and the vocals fit more snugly into the grooves. The title track like the song before it is bass driven. This song glides more smoothly into the shadows. "The Mask" just fades into the background. One thing I have noticed is the vocals are not as aggressive as they once were so his voice isn't commanding you to listen.

There is more punk to the vocals of "Orwell's Troops". They punch out a little more despite being mixed back against the guitar. The mix might be what separates this album from "the Spine" . "Lost" feels more like their earlier work. The guitar coolly coasts around the bouncing bass line.  The chorus doesn't jump out at you but sits back into the moody pace of the song. "A Likely Outcome" is interesting for the first half of the song the vocals take more of a back seat. The vocals when they come in howl in like the wind from the distance.

The album closes with one of the more aggressive songs on the album "Villains" which is another song that will put a slight smile on the pale faces of even the most morose listener who went into this as a fan of "the Spine". There is almost a metal like pattern to the guitar riff. I'll around this up to a 9 it might take the kinder and gentler version of the band a little more time to warm up to me, but they get the job done. The other bands at the forefront of the post-punk revival have been pretty quiet this year so it's good to hear from these guys. This album came out under the radar last week with no hype around it. If you are a fan then it is worth your time to listen to it and hopefully with Halloween creeping up on us more of this will be coming out to play.