A Place to Bury Strangers | Onwards to the Wall

Dead Oceans (2012)
By REYAN ALI  |  January 24, 2012
3.5 3.5 Stars

Onwards to the Wall

Onwards to the Wall clocks in at 16 minutes and 35 seconds, and it could shatter into smithereens at any moment. This EP from shoegaze/noise-rock tacticians A Place To Bury Strangers is a recording indebted to the pleasures of pressure. Chained to imposing distortion pedals, Onwards' guitars engage in all kinds of histrionic behavior. They buzz with frustration, wail with the force of a giant's yawn, and petulantly resign themselves to white noise, temporarily looming over their scenery like the buzzards of the apocalypse. But even after careering to the edge of total chaos, those instruments never fall apart. Onwards is, at its heart, just one big suicide tease, which is what makes it so fantastic. It's an exercise in potential self-harm that knows its limits but manages to squeeze emotional responses from you all the same. Several other weapons aid it in this game: Oliver Ackermann's sullen voice, Jay Space's weighty, vesuvian drum work and, on the title track, a freshly added female guest vocalist who's a dead ringer for Kimya Dawson. As per the Brooklyn trio's standard MO, their glorious music prefers loud, uncomfortable decibels. But don't get it twisted: they could still crush you with the softest touch.

A PLACE TO BURY STRANGERS + THE JOY FORMIDABLE | Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm Ave, Boston | March 30 @ 7 pm | $15 | 18+ | 617.562.8800 or thedise.com

  Topics: CD Reviews , Boston, Paradise Rock Club, summary,  More more >
| More


Most Popular
ARTICLES BY REYAN ALI
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   MARNIE STERN | THE CHRONICLES OF MARNIA  |  March 13, 2013
    In the arena of charming and entertaining indie-music figures, Marnie Stern stands unopposed.
  •   NO REST FOR BLACKBIRD BLACKBIRD  |  March 13, 2013
    Blackbird Blackbird's 2012 EP Boracay Planet takes its name from two sources: Boracay — a beach-filled, postcard-perfect island in the Philippines — and a dream Mikey Maramag had about the tourist trap, despite never having visited.
  •   WILD BELLE PUSH MAGICAL BUTTONS  |  February 11, 2013
    Wild Belle's multi-ethnic allegiances — Afropop, reggae, and rocksteady — fuse into American indie-pop and classic rock. Results are, at varying times, tropical, tepid, and tempestuous.
  •   THE LUMINEERS AIM FOR THE RAFTERS  |  February 01, 2013
    Jeremiah Fraites isn't famous — at least not yet. The drummer of the Lumineers, the folk trio who experienced an outrageously fruitful 2012, is talking to me two days before appearing on the January 19 Saturday Night Live, but he doesn't sound convinced that his band have crossed the fame threshold.
  •   PHANTOM GLUE COME INTO FOCUS  |  January 23, 2013
    Variations of "nightmarish" and "psychedelic" come up repeatedly as Matt Oates describes his band's work — which makes sense, given that Phantom Glue trace their roots back to Slayer, the Jesus Lizard, and cult post-hardcore act KARP.

 See all articles by: REYAN ALI