REVIEWSMUSIC
Frightened Rabbit
PaintingOfaPanicAttack
Warner★★★½
Scottish folk-rockers further
expandtheirsoundonfifthLP
AlargeportionofFrightened
Rabbit’s career has been spent
measuring the strength of Scott
Hutchison’s self-deprecating
lyrics of suicide and sobriety
struggles against an adapting
folkpalette.Fifthtimearound,
the parameters stretch further
with the band injecting elec-
tronic-based experimentations,
with surprising success. Drum
loop monotony serves as equal
sparring partner to poetic
bluntness, while subtle field-
recording samples and walls
of distorted noise slip between
theusualflirtsofcelebratory
rock grandeur. This extra co-
lour introduces an interpreta-
tively flexible facet, where un-
wavering hope and helplessness
co-existinthesamewhiskey-
soaked breath. JONNY NAIL
Dinner
Psychic Lovers
Remote Control★★★
Dane’s ironic synth-pop hits
early, wears thin on side twoIf M83 dropped their ear-
nest,deeplyromanticvisionof
Eighties synth-pop and traded
it in for something more arch
and ironic, you’d havePsychic
Lovers, the debut from pro-
ducerAndersRhedin.From
the exclamation mark after
‘Dinner’ on the album art to
Rhedin’s highly stylised singing
voice (half Thompson Twins,
half mid-yawn) to the often
absurd lyrics (“Wrap your legs
aroundthedivine,”hesingson
“Holy Fuck!”),Psychic Loversis
a lurid, ludicrous celebration of
Eighties excess. The LP’s back
half quickly becomes forget-
table; thankfully it’s front-load-
ed with several cracking songs
that wouldn’t sound too out of
placeonaclassicJohnHughes
film soundtrack.JAMES JENNINGSBlack Mountain
IVInertia
★★★★
Space-ship laser synth and astral
rock ris make for a solid LP
Canadian rockers Black Moun-
tain’s fourth album evokes the
feeling the band have packed
their instruments and rock-
etedoffonanintergalactic
journey. The opening strains
offirsttrackandleadsingle
“Mothers of the Sun” could be a
heartbeatoracountdown.Es-
caping in search of a celestial
truth the band firmly set their
pedals and drums down in the
dustycosmicdirtofdistant
galaxies and proceed to rock
out. At first triumphant, as the
album plays on it gives way to a
moody, mournful, even wistful
feelasaloneguitarwailsinto
thevastnessofblackspaceon
the album’s nine-plus minute
outro“SpacetoBakersfield.”
Thelastlineisaquestion.“Are
you listenin’?” We are. And so
should you. SELISE MCLAGGAN
Black Stone Cherry
KentuckyMascot★★★
Muscular rock from the
south of AmericaThough hailing from Ken-
tucky, Black Stone Cherry’s
buffed-up brand of rock –
thinkNickelback,onlynot
as shit – has for some reason
resonatedintheUK,where
thebandarearenaheadlin-
ers. Their fifth album bristles
with fury (the post-grunge of
opener “The Way of the Fu-
ture”) and fierce downtuned
ring(“InOurDreams”),but
is perhaps at its best when BSC
easeofthegas,asonheartfelt
acoustic closer “The Rambler”.
There are some boneheaded
moments (the stripper rock of
“Soul Machine”), but when vo-
calist Chris Robertson peers
into the depths of his soul on
“Hangman” all is forgiven. It
may not be particularly clev-
er, butKentuckyisameaty,
sweaty feast with its heart in
the right place. SIMON JONESOf all the bands to emerge from the mid-
Nineties heavy music scene, none have aged
as gracefully as Deftones. Where one-time
contemporaries such as Korn, System Of a
Down and Incubus are either M.I.A. or ran
outofideasyearsago,theSacramentoquintethitavein
of form on 2010’sDiamond Eyesthat’sshowingnosignof
abating.ExhibitA:this,theireighthstudioalbum.
As you’d expect of a Deftones record, there are rifs here- such as those in “Doomed User” and
thetitle-track–thatareheavierthanan
elephant with a ton of bricks on its back.
Butthefive-piecehavealwaysbeenat
theirbestwhenbalancingtheconcepts
of light and shade, and so you have highlights such as “(L)
MIRL”, the verse of which sees Sergio Vega’s bass weave a
hypnotic thread through spacey guitars, and the dizzyingly
melodic and almost proggy “Phantom Bride”. “Hearts and
Wires”, meanwhile, borders on post-rock, its spacious atmo-
spherics building to a cascading, thunderous chorus. Much
ofGoreseemscoatedwithahazy,cloudymalevolencethat
constantly catches you of guard, as seething guitar pas-
sages infiltrate dreamy moments spearheaded by vocalist
ChinoMoreno’sat-timesetherealvocals,afeattheband
firstperfectedon2000’sWhite Pony,stilltheirdefining
moment. That they’re able to match those heights 16 years
on speaks volumes. ROD YATES
Deftones’
Shock and Awe
DeftonesGoreWarner★★★★
Sacramento quintet prove their staying power
with sensational eighth albumKEY TRACKS:
“Doomed User”,
“Phantom Bride”,
“Gore”98 | Rolling Stone | RollingStoneAus.com May, 2016