When this album opens it certainly seemed more like the project is taking on more more conventional rock slant with this. Even with the drone and the odd touch of quirk to the vocals on the first song, you can also here traces of Led Zeppelin. "The Dome" has a angular groove that combines the weirdness of new wave with a driving noise rock pound. Things don't fall as firmly into the craziness I expect from these guys until on "Warning" and then it has a hint of punk to it. His wife Lydia Ainsworth, who we are a fan of here lend her voice to "Pygmalion". It sounds more like her song that what this project does. But it hovers rather than forming a song, so it more of an interlude. I guess everyone has to do a cover of "Sinnerman". The monotone vocals make less of an effort to convey the emotion of this song, so it falls way short of of Nick Cave's on this song.
I really like the dark powerful pound of "Look Daggers". It works of a pretty simple throb , but it's effective, almost like a more demented version of Clutch. "A Sacrifice" finds the darker turn the album takes progressing even further. The tempo picks up rather than relying on a drone.
Lydia returned to sing "Sons and Daughters". This feels more like it came from the 80s. Something Blondie might have done. The album closes with "Uniform of a Killer". It begins with a march and moves into a simmer , but doesn't engage me as much as some of the other songs on this album.
I'll round this one up to an 8, as it reaches a decent compromise. I think some of the more sonic oddities and genre jerking that have been reigned in for the sake of songwriting are not missed as long as they are keeping this heading in a darker direction. I think this album is such it's own thing that it is going to take some time for it to really wear on me , though I suspect tit's the stronger songs which I hear as the darkest that will become most endearing over time.
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