THE BLACK ANGELS
Directions To See A Ghost
(Light In The Attic)
Rating: * * *
Verdict: Strictly for those who like their rock 'n' roll cold and gloomy
The Black Angels need to throw on a jacket or jersey before stepping out. Not that the sextet's hometown of Austin,
Texas, gets too chilly but they're a cold-sounding band. Second album, Directions To See A Ghost, will be far too dour for some. But if you like your rock 'n' roll psychedelic, stony, and bleak, in the vein of Canada's Black Mountain or the hazy blues of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, the Black Angels deliver.
They're like the Jesus and Mary Chain, by whom they are clearly influenced, with a hint more cold-heartedness and steel rather than paranoia and beautiful feedback.
However, get three-quarters through the album to tracks like Vikings and the doomed canter of You In Colour and even the most hardened heart might find the unrelenting gloom and droll monotony exhausting.
There are moments of enlightenment, like when Never/Ever moves from jittering feedback to a rumble reminiscent of the Swans, but more dynamism would make the album more appealing. However, what they lack in dynamics they make up for in texture. There's the shimmer and squall of Doves; ghostly vocals and wah wah guitar on Science Killer and droning 16-minute epic Snake In the Grass is space rock taking you on a long trip to a dark and haunting place these Black Angels call heaven.
