The Review: A Place To Bury Strangers – Exploding Head

Big Muff. Those are the first words that come to mind when i think of NYC’s A Place To Bury Strangers. No i’m not being rude i am of course referring to the guitar pedal, and by the sounds of things a bass and drum pedal aswell. Much hyped during 2007′s noise rock revival i have always been fond of, if not wildly impressed by their self titled debut album, it came to me across to me as a band with a goal but very different ideas of executing it, almost a collection of My Bloody Valentine B-sides; this has changed however.

Today i was supposed to be posting a review of a festival i had recently visited yet this album has blown me away more than anything i’ve listened to this past year, all drone-rock noisescapes, Psychocandy-esque melodies and pounding rhythm section it could scarcely have been better designed to distract me from what i should otherwise have been doing. ‘It Is Nothing’ is a signal of intent from the off, sounding like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club if they’d shredded a few strings and found themselves a decent drummer, i LOVE it and it’s one of the weaker tracks on the album. Follow up track ‘In Your Heart’ comes across as New Order if Peter Hook had spent less time bitching about stuff and encouraged his bandmates to write something good for the first time since Joy Division, and ‘Ego Death’ is potentially the best track i have heard this year building slowly to an ear-shredding crescendo; with a riff that’s equal parts Jesus and Mary Chain’s ‘Blues From A Gun’ and Marilyn Mansons ‘Fight Song’, it’s a 6 minute opus that nearly ripped my fucking face off.

I could happily sit and wax lyrical about every track on this album, other highlights include ‘I Lived My Life In The Shadow Of Your Heart’ and the Teardrop Explodes-meets-a-road-gritter epic ‘Exploding Head’, but i fear i’ve gushed enough over it. For those of you not interested in the noisier side of post-punk i’d imagine it could potentially get quite samey, but i’ve not found this to be a problem for my own tastes. I can’t recommend it enough, it’s far and away the best album i have heard this year, and probably my favourite new release since The Walkmen’s ‘You & Me’ from late last year. My copy is on pre-order, just go out and buy it on October 6th, i promise you won’t be disappointed.

A+