If an album whose sound starts and ends with shoe-gazer pioneers Ride doesn't do something for you, not a lot I can say for this album will interest you. However, in my case, the dreamy melody and super-layered tones of "Asphalt Angels"**** had me at strum 1, and "Ghosts"**** is melodic pop perfection. "Enslave Me"**** stumbles a bit with silly lines like "enslave me drink me like a case of wine", but a rocking drive and unexpected hooks make up for it. The middle of the album does tend to drag, from the gloomy "Alley Park" and Cocteau Twins ethereal "Blue Snow". The next three, including obviously dopey "Worthless", wimpy "Time To Go", and anchored "Misjudgement", a nondescript clone of "Enslave Me" with touches of Stone Temple Pilots, are the album's trough. The moody beginning of "Shattering cold"**** almost loses the song in the album's backwater, though it turns into a respectable rock song, and "The Light" is an appropriately mellow closer, with some cool chords that Radiohead would probably find useful. However, the album is strongest in the first half.
Comments