It has to be said that for a band once appointed "The Noisiest band in New York"; A Place To Bury Strangers new album Exploding Head isn't really what you'd expect. It can certainly be defined as "Noise Rock" but it doesn't subsume the skull splitting stuff that you might expect from the sophomore album's title. Instead it's a melancholic ten tracks of static filled shoe-gaze psychedelic rock, it's dark, it's moody, it's grungy... It's bloody brilliant!
If you are a fan of the Brooklyn based trio's self titled debut you shouldn't be disappointed here; ABTBS certainly do this genre right. The lyrical themes are dark and not overly intellectualized, making music in the "noise rock" genre that you find yourself singing along to is certainly no mere accomplishment. Drummer Jay Space is really the star on this album, though at times swamped by the distorted guitar sounds of Oliver Ackermann; Space's drumming is without fault, driving each song from it's beginning to end with precise pace and depth.
To be true there are a few fillers on this album, songs that really just provide a break between the highlights, to which there are a plenty. In Your Heart, Keep Slipping Away and I Lived My Life To Stand In The Shadow Of Your Heart are perfect examples of this band at their absolute best. All said and done Exploding Head follows through on the mountains of promise that has been showcased in APTBS previous releases.
