It’s been nearly a year since we last heard from THE BAND IN HEAVEN. Now they’re back just in time to remind you just how lethal their sound is with their brand new cassette on NorseKorea tapes.
Considering some of their past efforts, the Band in Heaven are certainly a notable band (see this post on their Demos), however after some time they seem to falter away and dwell in the darkness until they’re ready to come back out again. Maybe if we were a little closer in location it wouldn’t seem that way, but that is okay though, because then they come back with releases like these to share with their helplessly unsuspecting victims.
I say “victims” because the opener “Sleazy Dreams” barely gives you a second to prepare for the abrasive onslaught that is unmistakeably aiming right for your forehead. Almost immediately you are overrun with a heaping wave of sonic intensity that already sounds catastrophic at the five second mark. This is the kind of grit that leads to dire consequences if you’re not careful, as you can feel the hectic urgency coursing through the sharp angles of this genre spanning track. In the end this will leave you in musical dismay, where the song is undoubtedly menacing in every sense of the word.
Filling out the remainder of this seven minute cassette tape is “If You Only Knew”, which right away serves up a desert-like haze that leaves you feeling stranded and disoriented in the middle of nowhere. Heavily sweltering textures gives this song the feel that it’s actually dripping with sweat, as these textures mask everything with a layer of heat that is thick enough to bite through. Scaly guitars swirl and pop while a muddy fuzz bass percolates beneath in a sticky tar pit, trying for it’s life to float to the top but never even getting half a chance to see the light of day.
In the end (only focusing on these two songs) the Band in Heaven seemed to leave behind some of their previous pop notions, where this cassette falls more into a post-punk or post-rock category than anything else. Granted things are still dreamy, but it’s much more harsh and destructive than a dream should be. That being said, let’s go with “nightmare pop” for this one.
Sleazy Dreams –
If You Only Knew –
My Rating: 8/10
Genre/ Tags: Lo-Fi, Post-Punk, Dream Pop, Shoegaze
Seven Minutes in Heaven CS: Tracklist:
1.) Sleazy Dreams
2.) If You Only Knew
BUY the cassette directly from NorseKorea Tapes
The Band in Heaven on Bandcamp
Past Related Posts:
Band in Heaven/ Weird Wives Split CS
Band in Heaven Demos
Styrofoam Drone 