Algiers : " The Underside of Power"

When people got all excited about the Zeal & Ardor album, I was underwhelmed as I had already heard Algiers who may not dive into the metal trapping but does what Zeal and Ardor does better in terms to the feeling they evoke. They are still dark and angry on their album, with what feels like a hip hop beat to the opening "Walk Like A Panther" . The vocals are all over the place in the tradition of gospel.There is a rough distorted filter over them. It doesn't strike me as having the same polished sense of songwriting. The programmed drums don't have as commanding of a pound as I remember these guys having. I remember my ex-wife telling me she didn't like these guys because they reminded her too much of hip-hop and while I didn't hear that then I can hear it now.

They rein the songwriting in on the title track. The chorus has more of a hook, though the mood is lighter and it feels more like 60's garage pop. So far "Death March " is the most interesting song on the album as the guitars sound like something from Twin Peaks and the vocals work with the groove rather than rage against it. "A Murmur, a Sign" is not as compelling and meanders without committing. The song after is is not any better. It's not until "Cleveland' that the album reconnects for me. I think this song finds all the elements that work for them in good working order.  "Animals" has almost a punk energy to it's ranting vocals. "Plague Years"  drones on to set a mood , but is more of an interlude than an actual song.

The piano driven "Hymn for an Average Man" is another study in droned texture, but benefits from the crooned vocals. There is a similar interlude of atmosphere after this song and before the closing song that has more energy . The tempo is brisk and every thing should be clicking for m, but it isn't this might be because it's not as dark. There is much less tension over all and I would not call it post-punk, but indie rock. I'll round this down to a 7.5 as I don't think it comes close to what they did on the previous album and the strong songs are not as numerous. It's not a bad album I am just disappointed because I know they have done better.



7.8

Algiers : "s/t"

I have been searching the inner -webs for this album for sometime now, so happy to finally have my hands on it. Matador records is releasing it but not doing much else to promote it. Good thing for the band they have a unique sound that should set them apart.  They formed in Atlanta, but like most other good music Atlanta doesn't know what to think of it so they relocated to varied parts of the world meeting up again in New York. They do take string synths that are slightly goth and set them as a backdrop to the gospel dirge. The singer's husky soulful voice has more rawness to it than I expected and it sits in a bizarre juxtopostion to the noisy industrial clanging that it emotes over. Sometimes it sounds like the rest of the band is going to go along with him and start busting out some 60s soul from within the din.

Sometimes the gospel takes the focus and the dark electronic elements just haunt the background, with the groove of "And When You Fall" making it seem like this lines are more defined than they actually are. I has previously heard the chain gang pulse of " Blood", which was one of the song that sold me on these guys in the first place. They pick up the pace for "Old Girl". It's another song where it's hard to hear where the gospel and electronica begins and ends, though here the mixture comes across more rock n roll. One of the other songs that sold me on this band is frantic funk kick of "Irony, Utility, Pretext". The shadowy cloak this electronic gospel is draped in varies in shades from song to song. One of the darker shades paints "But She Was Not Flying".
"Black Eunauch" is the only song that has taken several listens for me to still not have formed a conclusive opinion about. The albums only ballad "Games" gives the album a wider dynamic range. A fitting comparison to this band would be they fuse dark electronica to gospel in the same way Chelsea Wolfe has done it with folk. The big chorus filling up the background of "In Parallax" pushes the gospel in your face, but lyricallY I think any religious imagery is being used as a metaphor. If you have any inkling in regards to my spiritual path based on my writing for Cvlt Nation then it should be clear that if this was a christian band I would not give them the time of day. The album ends with a untitled piece that is an outro combining noise with what sounds like a gospel radio station. Without a doubt this is an excellent piece of work that was well worth the searching. It gets a 10.

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Algiers - "Blood" from Algiers on Vimeo.