A Place To Bury Strangers - Onwards to the Wall

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5...according to our Mike on Thu 08 Mar, 2012.

This EP starts STRONG! Clanging bass and breakneck hi-hat and screeching Bauhaus-esque guitar build up a kind of combination of frothy momentum and icy control that reminds me of Bitch Magnet. Marvellous opener, and the guitar tones are wonderfully detailed with slicing treble sounds. The singer sounds quite a lot like Ian Curtis and that's not the only Joy Division similarity to be noted here but there's a fuller sound at work here and they're certainly far more than mere copyists. In 'Onwards To The Wall' they get a bit of a motorik kraut groove going on with sheets of metallic drone and Hooky-esque bass and nonchalant boy-girl vocals, before the more pumping drift of 'Nothing Will Surprise Me' with its obnoxiously wibbly synth intro kicks in. These guys fly through a variety of styles over the course of this EP and with no small amount of style and confidence. I bet these songs destroy live, too.

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•   ‘Onwards To The Wall’ packs every bit of the searing sonic maelstrom listeners have come to expect from A Place To Bury Strangers. Yet, the adroit songcraft that’s always been there is brought more the fore, pop hooks are repurposed and more instantly recognizable.

•   Now joined by bassist Dion Lunadon, formerly of The D4, in whom the band have found a crucial companion in pulling timeless melodies from their jet engine textures.

•   Standout ‘So Far Away’ takes all the pure pop perfection of The Box Tops’ ‘The Letter’ and shoots it through with a barely-harnessed dark energy and snarling propulsion. The title track carries a similar balance of classic, 60s pop hooks and doomed-out vibes, employing a boy-girl vocal trade off that’s at once both sexy and menacing.

•   A handful of contemporary bands are currently exploring the new limits of loud. And here, A Place To Bury Strangers prove that they have not only been leading that charge for some time now, but that they are also evolving and maturing on those front lines.

• ‘Onwards To The Wall’ is a fresh, complete artistic statement. It’s a new chapter, a prelude for what awaits on the horizon. It is a taste of greatness to come.

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