Customer Reviews

Passover

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Passover is just a phenomenal debut (full length) record for The Black Angels. I have not heard any contemporary record that so strongly fits the 60's psychedelic rock vibe. That said, I do not intend it as a compliment or complaint, just a statement of fact. I am neither a product of the 60's, nor do I care a great deal for its music. That said, this recording sounds to me like it was transplanted from that era - in tone at least. Something must set it apart, however, because if it were straight up 60's, as I said, I probably would not like it.

The rhythms are "hard" (not fast); driving and pulsing. The sound is mesmerizing, hypnotic. There is a drone to the music and an equally effective drone to the vocals in many instances. The lead vocalist is a great compliment to the music. Great guitar licks that supplement the rhythm are sprinkled throughout. There is occasional dissonance and distortion.

The music is blues-infected; the lyrics are plaintive, politically informed, and socially conscious. Perhaps they sound like a throwback to the 60's in part because a common subject is war (they obviously reference Vietnam and Iraq). There is a depth of symbolism in some songs and a more overt meaning in others. And despite the fact they can best be categorized as psychedelic, there is a lot more going on. The final listed track hints at U2's Bad and the hidden track is mostly folksy acoustic. This is a very talented group.

It's just a very solid recording. Dim the lights, turn it up, and let the music wash over you. This group and particularly this recording are tremendous finds.

i know, a bold statement. but this album is amazing. the black angels call their music "native american drone 'n' roll." it's actually a pretty fitting description. as some newspaper columnists have noted, their music seems to be creedence clearwater revival meets the doors meets the texas chainsaw massacre. the music is dark, brooding, and deceptively monotonous. their sound is quite original and brings together a lot of different instruments, including the mysterious drone machine, harmonica, slide guitar, and even a bit of violin on the final track.

another thing of note about this album is the relevancy of the lyrics. while most of their songs deal with death, destruction and other apocalyptic themes, they also apply these images to contemporary problems, most specifically the iraq war. in fact, there is a hidden track (and i am usually opposed to this type of hijinks) at the end of the album, which is an acoustic song about a guy who goes to fight in iraq and never comes home. along the same lines, the first vietnamese war is a powerful song (although about the vietnam war, i believe the band is asserting the connection between the two, futile war efforts) and empire addresses some of the issues behind the iraq war.

overall, the music is a trip. fusing together the darker moments of the velvet underground (think heroin, femme fatale, etc.), the satanic themes of early blues music (ie. the myth that robert johnson sold his soul to the devil for his guitar skills) and their own sense of apocalyptic urgency, the black angels have crafted a modern masterpiece.

If Jim Morrison had ever gotten depressed and started a pyschedelic hard-rock/blues band, then the result might sound something like Black Angels.

And this fledgling Austin band introduced their fuzzy-rock, blues-toned rock in their first full-length album, "Passover." It takes a little while to fully sink in, like the effects of a good wine -- but when it does, this haunting rock music is intoxicating.

It opens with a bluesy guitar playing, only to burst into a hypnotically fuzzy melody, full of drums and bass. "We'll fly for the hills/pick up your feet, let's go/we'll head for the hills/pick up steel on your way," Alex Maas intones in his rough, compelling voice. "Fire for the hills, pick up speed, and lets go..."

It continues with the slow-burning, mellotron-edged "The First Vietnamese War," a dark rocker that slowly pulls listeners deeper into its orbit. With the songs that follow, the Black Angels plunge into taut blues-rock, ghostly hard-rock, fuzzy bass melodies, cycling electric guitars, supernatural dirges, and even a plaintive song about "he's fighting in the Iraq war/what for?"

The Black Angels aren't really typical psychedelica, hard rock or blues. Instead, they pursue a ghostly, shamanic sound that is sort of a mad, sizzly mishmash of all of the above. It's like the Velvet Underground, Clinic, the Doors and Syd Barrett all returned to jam together in the desert.

Droning and cycling guitars and the fuzzy bass are the most prominent instruments here, locked into kinetic riffs and Ouroborous loops, and twisted up in some very solid drums. The effect is hypnotic. The psychedelic, slightly softer edge comes from some very subtle organ and keyboard, but not in a terribly prominent way.

Maas has the perfect voice for this hard, complex music -- he wails, growls, and murmurs seductively. He sounds like a weathebeaten, rough-voiced shaman who is telling us his visions. And grim visions they are -- war, love, anguish and pain. "You're just so kind/The eagle with red wine/You made me see that bright eye/Between me and time..."

The Black Angels are one of those bands that aren't as well-known as they deserve to be -- brilliant fusion of rock, blues and psychedelic anguish. Absolutely stunning.

Along with Darker My Love's "2" and the Black Angels' follow-up, "Directions to See A Ghost" this is a strong recent record in the droning, doomed, and dirge-soaked genre of neo-psychedelia. I was frankly expecting, based on the band's name and description, a far more derivative band, and I am relieved to find I was mostly wrong. If this band can stay focused and progress, they might make a brilliant record.

For a debut, this is one solid album. I'd hesitate for five stars only because I predict they will top this as they grow into their songwriting and realize a more complicated lyrical and musical vision. While certainly not only the Doors (of which I am not a fan!) but The Gun Club (both lyrical and vocal similarities to Jeffrey Lee Pierce) and Echo & the Bunnymen (not in the sound so much as the post-punk attitude and their sinister yet accessibly pop-oriented vibe) will echo here, they create an appealingly grim sound scape for these death-haunted, obsessively structured, somber songs.

Another contemporary "Black" band, "Black Mountain," may also come to mind in their shared quest to uncover an overlooked mother lode of late-60s psych, less flower power and frippery, more stripped-down and brutal. This is a harsher, gnawed, numbed entry into the psyche. It can be oddly erotic, but dredging up a lustful, aching, mournful passion. They remind me of a lovelorn person's sleepless nights.

The tribal drums here carry most songs along in the spirit of Mo Tucker from the Velvet Underground, while capturing the desert rawness of Roky Erickson's band 13th Floor Elevators. This newer band's also from Austin, and their appealingly dessicated quality in their relentlessly percussive, tormented folksy music makes a great soundtrack for a mental or real trip down a lost highway out West.

The album seems a loosely conceived saga of a soldier sent off to war and trying to come back home-- or not getting back entirely, in some profound sense of the soul. The last song's nakedly naive in its late-60s's folk slogan-protest march tone, but I think this expression of grief and frustration may be half-deliberate, half-accidental. The band's obviously intelligently incorporating sources from three and four decades back while they are conscious-- I think-- of not overdoing themselves as a soundalike homage. The inclusion of Iraq alongside Vietnam in the final track reminds us that long after the moratoriums and Kent State and Berkeley demonstrations ended, anti-war music remains for us still sadly relevant.

Out of the stacks of cd's I've bought this year this one is always at the top. It was a great suprise to see they were touring with the Black Keys, I'm glad I hit a couple shows, this band is even better live. In a nutshell it's dark psychedelic rock that'll have you checking your calendar to see which year it is. I can't wait to hear what they do next!

Brothers and Sisters:

A waking dream: the Black Angels, outriders who bring expectant truth from the hinterlands. A ball of fire sinking into the horizon line above a rice paddy. The acid wail of a psychedelic guitar. Air pushes across your face from the front of the boat as it cuts through deathly water. A voice intones the fear of this fevered reality. A burst of popping sounds from around an approaching bend. Birds? Gunfire? Your eyes roll unannounced into your head; the drone increases its pitch until you are submerged into a gray world without borders or definition. This body will twist on sheets in sweat underneath a ceiling fan's languid revolutions. A voice insistent it its message calls forth a long-forgotten remembered rhythm in your head. Your heart. Mosquitos buzz from outside your consciousness. What God is this? What monster? What are these words? This worship? The mother. The father. The children. You will set them all free. Kill kill kill kill. Teach me. Free me. Sacrifice me. Annoint me.

The Black Angels are the choir. These are their hymns.

Seekers, welcome.

I can't get enough of this band. Ever since I heard of them through The Black Keys' website, I've been digging them like crazy. The Black Angels are a 6-piece psychedelic drone rock band from Austin, TX. Now when I say drone rock, I don't mean stuff like Sunn O))) and Earth, I mean more of the mid 60's swirly sound of The Rolling Stones, along with the jagged punk of The Velvet Underground. Songs such as Empire, Manipulation, and Black Grease have a long drone underneath it all, combined with excellent guitar playing, and a singer that brings Jim Morrison back from the dead. Listen to Better Off Alone and tell me it doesn't sound like The Doors. There is also a feeling of urgency in the music, with a anti-war message on songs like Young Men Dead, The First Vietnam War, and Sniper At The Gates Of Heaven. Blues starts to incorporate into the later tracks, and you're left with an incredible debut that never gets old. I look forward to hearing more from this great band.

Heavy duty Trudy. You best have a real stereo to handle the load. Not for kiddies.

Look out for shades of the "Velvets" and strong influences of "Jesus and Mary Chain" dosed with a good whallop of "Sisters of Mercy". And I can't help thinking that these bad boys have not been listening to some BMRC along the way.

That being said, this at first listen seems dirivitive, however, after giving it some serious airtime on the car stereo, these guys are for real. Their take on politics is uncanny; not too preachy and not to shy. By the way, this is driving music of the highest order. This stuff could make a cold ass cronic want to burn rubber out of the drive-in.

The more I listen the more I can relate. And I'm an old fart.

-mke

There are things that I adore about this record. Overall, the sound is amazing. Big, reverberating, clangy and stoned. The playing is top notch, but it's the lyrics that sometimes make me roll my eyes. While I appreciate a good anti-war song as much as anyone, some of the wording here is just a little corny. I chalk it up to the fact that The Black Angels are a very young band, and just go along for the ride. If these guys keep it up, they have the potential to become one of the best bands around.

Oh yeah- almost every song reminds me of either "The End" or "The Unknown Soldier" by the Doors, but hey, that's not a bad thing.