A Place to Bury Strangers, 3 EPs

Three-piece bands like this aren't supposed to exist anymore. Typically a keyboardist, an extra guitar player, and someone able to manipulate a laptop or some drum machines would be necessary to do what this band does with one guitar, one bass, and one drum set. Their intensity is propelled in equal portions by brutally distorted guitar work, driving bass lines, pounding drums, and simple, effective song writing.

These EPs are, at their essence, the image of rock 'n' roll turned inside out: all the ugly viscera spilling out in an excess of anger, ghostly melodies, and crushing noise.

The opening song on the "Red" EP proclaims, "I'll never fall in love again." What follows is a wall of noise and music that alleviates as much as it destroys. The guitars sound like explosions, the bass lines like consecutive gut punches, the percussion ragged and dirty with cuts and bruises. A Place to Bury Strangers are fucking heavy, their sound packed to the brim with every kind of sound imaginable. Oliver Ackermann's guitar sounds like an apocalyptic trumpet at times, honking out wholly alien tones along with a shimmering buzz or a cacophonous crunch worthy of nightmares. When he isn't busy ripping the strings and insides out of his guitar, Ackermann is capable of keeping his instrument within the realms of the intelligible: at least sometimes it sounds like a string instrument. Running along the side of this affinity for electric carnage is a talent for song writing. Every one of these songs has a memorable hook packed inside them with unconventional and surprising moments that make the songs absorbing from beginning to end. "The Falling Sun" functions on soaring melodies that play themselves out over each other, the bass, the noise, and the guitar melodies all competing for space in the mix, all of them continually building the tension in the song until the whole beautiful mess galvanizes itself and turns to dust. On the other hand, "Don't Think Lover" comes out swinging with a tornado of effects and unrelenting drums before caving into a more conventional pop tune. The peace isn't too last, though, as a brief silence in the song is followed by an overpowering and wordless chorus of sorts that hits even harder than the opening punch of sound.

The "Green" EP begins with the anthemic "Never Going Down," a song that is part tribal drumming and part "I'm going to rip your legs off your body" guitar assault. The songs on this EP sound slightly more open, less washed out in effects and more immediate. If the "Red" EP is a bit dreamy despite all its immediacy, the majority of the "Green" EP is akin to having a piano dropped on your head when you least expect it. It starts off strong and doesn't even think about relenting until the final song, "Ocean," which is powerful in its own right, though not as heavy as tracks like "My Weakness" or "To Fix the Gash in Your Head." Both of these tunes sound like they were made for a car crash, "My Weakness" has an especially virulent drum line that holds up an accelerated guitar part and a heavy, throbbing bass guitar that holds the song together with its melody and throbbing rhythm. Not to back down for even a second, "To Fix in the Gash in Your Head" is perhaps the bands catchiest tune despite its manic pace and nasty lyrics. "I'll just wait for you to turn around and kick your head in" is delivered in a near deadpan voice, betraying the idea that this might be a sarcastic tune: with the flying, completely sizzling melody that dominates the tune and the machine gun percussion, it's hard to believe that this song is anything but dead serious. The "Green" EP ends with "Ocean," a song whose title completely relates its contents. Filled with washes of noise and a floating, dense melody, it is the perfect end to an EP that feels complete unto itself, as if each of the songs had been written for each other.

On their third and most recent EP the band almost completely shifts gears. The music is far more subdued than either of the previous EPs and the emphasis on pure aural assault is toned down for a bit. In a way the track "Half Awake" dominates 18 and a half minute running time, tumbling along in waves of loose strings and wavering effects. It also stands out as being completely instrumental, many of the effects on the guitars sounding like keyboards and drifting easily through the steady pulse of drums. A "portastudio demo" of "Missing You" is included, fitting in well because it is far more stripped down, the trilled bass and delayed effects calming down the energy that the "Red" EP version has. Closing things out is a cover of The Jesus and Mary Chain's "Just Out of Reach" from the Barbed Wire Kisses compilation. It's a good cover, but more than that, it really sets this band apart from any of their influences, demonstrating in no uncertain terms that A Place to Bury Strangers are working on their own agenda, no matter who's influenced them.

samples:

• Don't Think Lover ("Red" EP)
• My Weakness ("Green" EP)
• Breathe ("Third" EP)