Spell (Dig)

Black Heart Procession | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 9, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Touch & Go Records
• ASIN: B000F2C8TY
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #195,847 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Tangled

2. The Spell

3. Not Just Words

4. The Letter

5. The Replacement

6. Return To Burn

7. Gps

8. The Waiter

9. Places

10. The Fix

11. To Bring You Back

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Too much "atmospheric" rock music fills empty ideas and a lack of actual songs with an overuse of the loud-soft dynamic and lots of weird instruments. But Black Heart Procession have always had compelling, forceful tunes, and they've only recently started to fill their echoing, haunted sound with the sounds of slide guitar, organ, and strings (and of course, much more on 2002's nearly brilliant murder mystery/rock opera Amore del Tropico). The Spell, the closest the band's come to flat-out, riff-driven "rock," just might be their finest album to date, a manifesto of melancholic bravado. Pall Jenkins's voice has never sounded so strong. He may sing "We come crashing through the dark/We don't know where we are/And something is just not the same," but somehow, there's hope underneath. Huzzah. --Mike McGonigal

Product Description

"The Spell" is the most fitting name yet for a Black Heart Procession record. Spells are cast over a person, a love affair, a nation, a world; they enchant and entrap, disorient and delude. They're the heart of this release, and there's no better word to describe the spooky intoxication of the band's sound. Theirs is the sound of driving at night across the West. Like the wide-open landscape, this is music that knows how to be both desolate and lush. Here, a song's 6/8 beat will pull you into a moody seductive waltz and next, the violin and piano evoke the house band of a lonesome cabaret with the lights turned low. Then the strings stop their mournful crying and shift into a propulsive thrum, and now we've got the pedal to the metal and we're heading straight down the open road into a cinematic twilight.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars maintains their trademark sense of utter desolation, May 13, 2006

By 

Aquarius Records (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spell (Dig) (Audio CD)

The last album by this San Diego band saw them taking a few detours from their trademark velvet-tapestried funereal march. The aptly titled Amor Del Tropico toyed with cocktail 'n' bossanova themes to good effect, but on The Spell they've found their way back into the shadowy folds. And I welcome them back with open arms 'cause while I certainly enjoyed Amor, it's been far too long without a full dose of the somber beauty that Pall Jenkins and Tobias Nathaniel do best. Once you've been bitten by that intoxicating old BHP (if you haven't already!) you'll know what I mean. Their bleakly despairing yet utterly beautiful second album, released in 1999 and simply titled 2, still succeeds in captivating virtually everyone within earshot. From the opening track "The Spell" offers a more straightforward rock feel with more prominent muscular electric guitars and hence a bit more momentum, but still maintains their trademark sense of utter desolation. Thumbs up on this downer!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another hit for the BHP, May 9, 2006

By 

Logan Seguin (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Spell (Dig) (Audio CD)

The Black Heart Procession have done it again with their fifth full length album release. This album is much like Amore Del Tropico in sound and style but seems to have a slightly slower pace to it. It is hard for me to say which i prefere of these two albums for they are quite different. I would probably say that The Spell is a more mature release and that it has a much larger variety of song types. I also prefere "The Waiter #5" from The Spell to "The Waiter #4" on Amore Del Tropico. All in all i believe that they kept their new style fairly to the "T" so if you liked Amore Del Tropico then you will have no problem getting into this one. I do enjoy these last two albums, but i must say that i prefere their old minimal sound. I do think they have matured as a band, and that their lyrics continue to mature as well. So if you like the band, then you probably dont need me to tell you to pick this up, because you probably already know what to expect from this great band.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Spell #5, May 20, 2006

By 

Raven Shaddock (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spell (Dig) (Audio CD)

"The Spell (#5)" comes pretty close to "#2" CD, which I think is their best CD. As the title this CD puts you under a "Spell" as the haunting sounds of instruments and vocals do not out do the other. As they continue w/ The Waiter series this one is "The Waiter #5" brings their Edgar Allan Poe lyrics "...you won't be coming back and this is my home. This is my grave"