A Place To Bury Strangers Will Have You Pinned

Brooklyn noise misfits A Place To Bury Strangers recently released their fifth album, Pinned, and the result is a stripped back, goth-colored, industrialized punk piece. The band, known for turning up the audio excess (insert Spinal Tap’s famous “These go to eleven” line all throughout), disassembled their sound and stayed within the bounds of 10. The outcome is a growth from the experimentation done on 2015’s Transfixiation, a quirky yet excellent effort. While listeners are still treated to short, aggressive clamor, the subtlety of Pinned’s noise rock is compelling and fantastic. New drummer Lia Simone Braswell (formerly of Le Butcherettes) works the kit with exceptional prowess and occasionally adds rich vocal accompaniment to Oliver Ackermann’s distinct baritone and fuzzed out, swirly guitar work, lending a chilling essence to the music. Dion Lunadon’s heavily distorted melodic bass lines remain solid and drives the band’s sound into greater sonic territory with a Peter Hook-like quality. Stand out tracks like the haunting opener “Never Coming Back”, aggro-punk number “Look Me in the Eye”, and poppy album closer “Keep Moving On” showcase the band’s unique approach to each song delivered on the 12-track album, and it all comes together with pulsating post-punk energy. The band’s new relatively stripped-down sound is impressive, and not a touch of what made them modern shoegaze sweethearts is lost. They took a successful gamble with Pinned, a compelling and rewarding listen from a band that re-emerged as powerful and dynamic as ever.

Photo: Brooklyn Vegan

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The Grim Folk: As Grim as It Gets

San Antonio dark country/psychobilly band The Grim Folks have been taking the San Antonio music scene by storm, albeit in their own way. Not one to mix in with the rest, The Grim Folks deliver a fresh and exciting sound in a city obsessed with metal and Mexican regional music. It’s not to say they don’t fit the bill; simply, they aren’t the typical band you would expect to come across. That, however, is a damn good thing. At home with the punk and goth crowds, The Grim Folks play macabre songs inspired from “roots” Americana full of dark humor and superstitious folklore with an undisguised energy. They aren’t exclusive to particular crowds; they have a loose and inviting vibe anyone can enjoy. “When it comes to writing lyrics, my influence is inspired by horror movies I watched as a kid or stories of the supernatural, “said Nathan Quintanilla, the band’s vocalist and rhythm guitarist. “That enticing feeling I get when seeing or hearing these things is what I try to shape i

She Past Away and their Anxiety Disco

Turkish goths She Past Away are back with their third and long-awaited new album, Disko Anksiyete , a masterfully crafted blend of post-punk, dark wave and gothic rock (obviously). On Disko Anksiyete (Anxiety Disco in English), the duo comprised of guitarist/vocalist Volkan Caner and producer/keyboardist Doruk Ozturkan switch gears a bit and go into more pop structured/disco-y territory, but the band doesn’t completely abandon their typical sound. Easily their more accessible album, Disko is full of 80s cold wave/post-punk influence, alluding to the classic sounds of Joy Division and New Order. Caner displays unique musicianship and his singing is reminiscent of the Sisters of Mercy’s Andrew Eldritch, while Ozturkan’s keyboard washes and production are crisp, polished and solid. photo: rockallphotography.com In comparison to their previous releases, debut Belirdi Gece and the sophomoric Narin Yalnızlık , both phenomenal albums, Disko is certainly the standout

Chelsea Wolfe Births Violence

If the American Gothic movement had a sound, Chelsea Wolfe perfectly captures it. Wolfe’s latest album (and sixth overall), Birth of Violence , brings her back to her gloomy folk roots. It’s a goth-tinged acoustic album, a departure from her harder, heavier and sludgy doom-metal heard in her previous releases, Abyss and Hiss Spun , two albums that followed the more accessible Pain is Beauty , whose title sounds like an art school kid’s expressionist project. Acoustic offerings are nothing new for Wolfe. Her catalogue features a few here and there, and Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs is as stated: a collection of acoustic songs from her earlier days. Acoustic music has a tendency to be skipped over, but Wolfe’s should not. No matter how they’re performed, they are desolate, raw and impassioned. If her studio recordings can move you to the deepest bowels of a dark place, they are a whole other entity live with even more depth.

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