Song, by Toad

Rough and raw?  On Song, by Toad?  Never!  And bloody hell this is rough.  I reviewed Ryan Schmale’s previous release late last year, but is rather definitely a different beast.  There remain almost none of the glowering, atmospheric songs of this record’s immediate predecessor, and in their place a near-unrelenting cloud of angrily sneering guitars.

There’s a whiff of old time rock ‘n’ roll at times too, although just the barest hint.  I was reminded of early (really early, as in: when they weren’t just a bit dull) Raveonettes just a little at times, but the association was not a very strong one.  If you imagine Phil & the Osophers as a frat boy pretending to be street, this album feels like the murderous hood he might be imitating.  There’s more than a touch of shoegaze to it at times as well, if you’re looking for pigeonholes, but that could just be the scuzzy guitar.

A bit like the excellent Scotland Yard Gospel Choir song featured earlier this week, these guys have a song starting with an opening line of vitriolic excellence.  “Don’t have to say it but it’s true/ Nobody puts me down like you” but while the former was more literally vicious, this is delivered with such spite that it ends up having way more force.  And it is not funny.

In fact this whole album has the look of that slightly awkward teenager who glowers at you from under his cap and, as you belittle him once again, boils up to such an extent that all the simmering resentment explodes, at which point he steals his father’s shotgun and goes and butchers everyone in the local MacDonald’s.

Maybe that’s because despite the aggression of the sound, the rhythm itself if usually relatively slow and deliberate by comparison, giving it the impression of emotions held in check, but without giving you any confidence that they won’t explode into a whirlwhind at any time.  At any point this album could just lose it and hit you with a furious noise, and even though it never quite does, the threat always seems to be there.

Because I’ve spent a long time absorbing the actual sound of the record, I did take a little time to get a handle on the actual hooks.  These are the catchy, hummable bits which you need somewhere in a song whatever the whatever the overall sound to keep you coming back to a piece of music.  It’s not generously laden with melody of any kind, I have to say, and although that’s probably not the point, I do think it could perhaps do with just a sliver more attention paid to that side of things, because the texture of the guitar sound doesn’t always do quite enough to realise the songs entirely on its own.

That’s a pretty picky point to make though, because for the most part I really like this.

That Ghost – Shouldn’t Leave the Estate

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That Ghost – The Roof

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