aaamusic | On 02, May 2011

Imagine, if you will, an alternate universe in which the term “orchestral rock” didn’t either bring to mind unfortunate images of “Be Here Now” or Metallica indulging themselves with 80 classically trained musicians with better things to do. It’s in this universe that I’d be proud to call this, The Bookhouse Boys’ sophomore effort, “orchestral Rock”.  Y’see, this is because it perfectly encapsulates both terms, it’s orchestral because it is expansive, expressive and there’s a shitload of instruments on every song, and it’s Rock because, well, it rocks like a bastard.

This is an album that takes the sheer scale of Arcade Fire at their most epic, and welds it to the hellfire and brimstone preaching of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds and the sheer, dead weight riffage of Queens of the Stone Age, and oh my good lord is it good. It manages to be utterly electrifying without ever trying, in the best possible way. Take track 5 on the album “To Forgive”, everything on the track needs to be there, and yet you can’t help but feel your pulse-rate clear triple digits as it races to its frantic, Morricone aping conclusion, all soaring voodoo harmonies, mariachi horns and blazing guitars.

It’s this kind of pace that’s so difficult to pull off, as it’s frantic and exciting, but never annoying or tiring. Any band can write a bunch of songs with 208 beats per minute but sooner or later one is going to want to hear some differentiation, and that is precisely what one gets here, you get enough diversity so that every track has its own distinct feel, but everything also feels connected, cohesive. In many ways this album could be a pretty steadfast fuck-you to Rock n Rolls legions of bloodless coattail riders, this is how you take a sound, make it recognisably in thrall to your influences but make it intrinsically your own at the same time. Nearly every song here is based around a low end, stoner-esque guitar riff but every song succeeds in creating a universe entirely unique to the band.

Of course this would be meaningless if the songs were duff, and they’re not by any stretch of the imagination, take They Will Not Depart and it’s genuinely terrifying howl into the chorus from lead vocalist Paul Van Oestren, With You and it’s bluesy menace that swings like a noose. I could go on but I don’t want to spoil the whole album for you, dear reader. Please, buy this magnificent record, and see what happens when the stars align, and a genuinely great rock and roll band plays with the scale and ambition of an orchestra.

Author: Will Howard