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Thursday 21 June 2012

Songs for Snakes - Charcoal Heather


Songs for Snakes, with their Charcoal Heather album should, if there's any justice, blow some cobwebs away on the, for lack of a better term, alt-punk scene.
For those who are still mourning the loss of band like Jawbreaker and Husker Du here's one that will make you smile again.
On this, their second album, it's actually difficult to point out anywhere that you could consider that they've put a foot wrong.
While they do wear their influences on their sleeves for all to see they're far removed from being a band who are simply rehashing the past glories of their idols, and in doing so offering a 'mark 2' service for a younger audience.
Instead this is a hungry sounding band who are looking to take what some would consider a familiar sound, and make it their own, and track after track there's plenty of evidence to support that this isn't something that is beyond their grasp.
If I was pushed to describe it in one sentence then I'd say that it's a hook laden assault on the ears that's accompanied by some raw punk vocals that manage to maintain a solid balance between the melody and aggression.
Unfortunately that wouldn't actually convey just how good it is.
After listening to Charcoal Heather from start to finish, and then comparing it to their self titled debut it seems glaringly obvious that they have pushed the envelope a great deal, and went from being a band who promised good things to one who are now in the position of delivering on them.
This is an album that given the opportunity will make a great deal of previously jaded music fans sit up and take notice.
On a side note I'll also add that when bands get in touch out of the blue looking for a review, and then provide material as strong as this it makes doing the whole blog feel rather worthwhile.
So mucho gracios Bill, it made my week.

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