IN COVERT : "Bleak Machinery"

The first song on this album is draped in reverb to create a thick atmosphere to drape a sound that blends the rough edges of industrial pulses with death-rock's elegant romance with depression turned outward. It's not the first time we have heard this kind of thing from Los Angeles, but they are good at what they are doing and bringing a more metal-minded aggression to it. The vocals go into an emotive scream rather than the harshness of a hardcore band. The deliberate pulse of " Nowhere to Turn" could be danced to, though the dense sonics might perplex your average 'goth nite' patron. This does, however, embrace many of the qualities we heard when death rock had its revival back in 2010, but most of those bands were ignored by the goth scene because they were not as dancey as Cold Cave, who they did embrace. 

The beat to "Shivers Down the Spine" feels like something off the Cure's "Pornography" album, but the vocals are more confrontational. "Night Captivity" is less abrasive; the strummed guitar gives the vocals room to actually sing. "Dead Weight" is a weird turn into a more alternative rock feel, but it works, even if it breaks character. "Dark Fields" finds the pace picking up and being driven by the burly, overdriven bass, which brings more of a punk feel. "Death Embers" carries more of an industrial weight to the way it crashes down. Tfaint synth melody in the back of the mix tries to open up space for the vocal melody that cries out with equal parts longing and torment. The vocals break into screams. 

The last song is an odd dip into shoe-gaze or at least it borrows the woozy guitar tone my popular by My Bloody Valentine, though the rest of the band has no intention of slowing down to submerse you in the atmosphere as the bass and drums keep pumping away which leads to the vocals being more frantic though singing rather than screaming, however it's an weird juxtasposition of sound, that might have to grow on me. You go into this album thinking it's going to be a straight-up revival of late 80s punk-infused goth, and it takes some wild turns. But I respect that more than if they were just trying to be a Specimen tribute band. I will give this a 9.5, as I like what they are going for even if it is produced in a somewhat abrasive manner. 

pst421