ALBUM REVIEW: The Black Angels – Death Song

Partisan

Released: 21.04.17
www.theblackangels.com

Six albums in, Austin psych overlords The Black Angels may no longer be keeping things as weird as before, but Death Song still finds some enjoyable new variations on familiar themes. That there’s still Velvet Underground and Thirteenth Floor Elevators nods galore here is to be expected: that several songs offer their most direct flirtations with concise pop yet.

Having parked some of Indigo Meadow’s well-meaning albeit clumsy attempts at sloganeering, the likes of I’d Kill For Her, I Dreamt and the sprightly, Clinic-esque Medicine find the band playing with newfound dynamic range and honest-to-god vocal melodies whilst keeping true to their love of dead-eyed lysergic unease and tense distortion. Death Song proves a surprisingly accessible and direct hit for The Black Angels.