A Place To Bury Strangers
Exploding Head

A Place To Bury Strangers are bringing back decadent post-punk sounds and with this new record they are set to make dark, distorted pop music cool again. Opener, ‘It Is Nothing’ immediately bulldozes the senses with trademark fuzzy guitars and chaotic drumming. This track is equally as blissful as it is deadly and it will takeover your lobes and completely tear them apart. ‘In Your Heart’ meanwhile is a mechanised indie-rock powerhouse that’s takes influence from Joy Division via Nine Inch Nails. Electronic beats knock up against pained guitar whines for an affecting four minutes of emotive and powerful noise.

Next up, ‘Lost Feeling’ builds upon a backbone of monolithic drums and gothic, droning guitars for a serious-yet-beautiful standout that harks back to the glory days of My Bloody Valentine but manages to maintain an originality that knocks the likes of She Wants Revenge and The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club out for the count. Note the delicious wall of noise created at around 4:20 – it’ll blow you away and it might even make your head explode.

Surprisingly, the next offering ‘Deadbeat’ is the most upbeat tune on the record and it will rip through your senses like the bastard love child of The Smiths and Mogwai for a deep and intense psychedelic masterpiece. The follow-up, ‘Keep Slipping Away’ blends folk-infused guitar elements with the trademark machine beats for a supreme and tasty blend of influences. Despite its dark ideas, heavy-as-hell sounds and distorted rhythm ‘Keep Slipping…’ should turn into a live anthem and it remains a completely accessible and dance-worthy slice of death-pop.

‘Ego Death’ takes a different approach to previous tracks and immediately strikes with some slamming drone-rock drums and seductive riffage. This is certainly our favourite track on the record as there is some definite head-banging potential. Hypnotic vocal tones build up toward a supreme chorus made-up of noise that’ll clear your throat as you sing-along, hurt the air as you pump your fist and quite probably soothe your soul after it’s done. ‘Smile When You Smile’ arrives in the ear next with all the angst-ridden appeal of Radiohead and the confident commerciality of Oasis. You will most likely find something to enjoy and appreciate within the rich style of this tune and it will surely work upon your brain for days with its sticky pop chorus, funk-infected guitars and dreamy lyrics. ‘Everything Always Goes Wrong’ by contrast is a nifty slice of industrial-pop driven forward by epic sounds, contagious riffs and jumping beats. Meanwhile, the title track mixes soulful (and, slightly tongue-in-cheek) words within a defiant post-punk structure (think The Cure-meets-Joy Divison and your close) that’ll give the Goths something to shout about.

The final offering on this disk is ‘I Lived My Life To Stand In The Shadow Of Your Heart’ and it will wind itself around your subconscious like those pretty fairy light-things. Indeed, on this the accessible guitars soar brightly above unrelenting drums and Oliver Ackermann’s standout vocal performance of the album for a fine closer.

Exploding Head is out now via Mute

By Dominic Smith