Lose Yourself
Seattle is a town which is synonymous with cool. From being the hometown to Sub Pop, grunge and particularly to the tortured, tragic Kurt Cobain, to more recently gaining acclaim for their progeny of indie wunderkinds, including the likes of Death Cab for Cutie, Pretty Girls Make Graves and Rocky Votolato. Music is something that the city does rather well.
These Arms Are Snakes are also notably no exception to Seattle’s stellar musical heritage. Featuring former members of Botch, Killsadie and Nineironspitfire, you know that if these previous bands are anything to go by, you are in for a veritable if not a little dark, audio treat.
The weight of this album is palpable as soon as laser hits disc. Close your eyes and turn this up to eleven and you could be in some bleak, post apocalyptic landscape ravaged by war. Bass lines rumble like tanks across a barren landscape and are so low they could have come from the far reaches of hell; screams shake and shatter your teeth with their vibrancy and drums beats sound off like rapid fire gun shots in the dead of night. They don’t paint the prettiest of pictures, but are all the better for it.
'Tail Swallower and Dove' teems with brooding and menace throughout. It is the audio equivalent to losing your self in a thriller or putting on one of those virtual reality helmets and being so fully immersed in the action, at points, you feel if you just believe enough, your nerves will start jangling around as if you are really amidst the action. It really grabs you by the scruff of the neck, pushes you around and compels you to immerse yourself.
From the kick in the teeth intro ‘Woolen Heir’s which is all wound up tight with measured aggression, to the more traditionally post-hardcore sounding 'Prince Squid', to the somewhat coarse electro brush strokes on 'Lucifer'; every track is predominantly diverse and separated by clever, thoughtful flourishes which allow them to stand apart from other band of their ilk.
Another excellent additional to their already impressive back catalogue, this may just be the album which propels this band into the big time.